Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eddie helps Steve unload his car as Wayne and Max sit in the living room, Wayne happily listening to Max gush about the trip, interjecting questions every so often. 

“- And then, I threw a frog on Mike,” Max giggles out, making Eddie and Steve both stop in the doorway, glancing at each other to silently ask when that happened before resuming lugging the suitcases and bags upstairs.

“Sounds like you had fun, kiddo.”

“I did!” Max nods, “I’m kinda happy to be back though.”

Wayne shrugs, “That’s normal, Red. Steve’s got another week off, right?”

“Give or take.”

“You two just gonna hang around the house?”

Max shrugs, pointing upstairs, “Plus Eddie.”

Wayne chuckles, nodding along. “Yeah, plus Eddie.”

Wayne finally forces himself off the couch as he yawns, “Okay, Kiddo, I haven’t slept yet and I have a shift tonight.”

“Bye, uncle Wayne,” Max says, hugging him before trailing to the kitchen.

“You leavin’, old man?” Eddie asks, getting a nod and pat on the back as Wayne heads to the door.
“Yeah, I’ll see you sometime this weekend, son.”

“I’ll come home at some point,” Eddie says.

Wayne rolls his eyes, mumbling ‘sure’ as he heads out the door. 

Steve yells his goodbyes to Wayne as he walks by with a basket full of laundry from the trip, heading to the laundry room.
He stops by the kitchen, “Red, go ahead and unpack so I can wash everything now.”

Max nods, setting her glass of water on the counter to head upstairs, “Sure mom.”

Eddie starts to follow Steve, nearly running into him when he stops to turn around.
“Oh, hey, are you going back to the trailer?”

“Do you want me to?” Eddie mumbles out, nervously twisting one of his rings around.

Steve quickly shakes his head, “Of course not, Eds. I was just gonna say if you go get your clothes I’ll throw them in with ours, save you a trip to the laundromat.”

A small smile makes its way onto Eddie’s face as he mumbles out, “Oh, yeah, okay.”

Steve balances the laundry basket on his hip - the way that would usually invoke light bullying from Max and Lucas - to pull Eddie to him, leaning in to kiss him as Eddie’s smile widens.

“I’ll go, uh, get my stuff.” Eddie says, pecking Steve’s lips one more time before finally turning to head outside as Steve makes his way to the laundry room.

Steve sets out sorting lights from darks as Eddie drops his bag in the floor.
“Uh, I can just do a separate load if that helps…”

“Scared I’m gonna try to steal your clothes, Munson?”

Eddie holds up a plain tshirt, scoffing. “Yeah, they’re gonna be real easy to mix up, babe.”

Steve rolls his eyes, snatching his shirt back to throw in the washer, “Put them in with mine, Eds.”

After a minute of waiting for Max, Steve leaves the laundry in Eddie’s hands to head upstairs.
“Max? Hey what’s -”
He stops at the top of the stairs, momentarily panicking when he sees Max standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at her door.
“Red? Hey, kid, what’s going on?”

Max jumps slightly, shaking her head as she turns to Steve.
“I’m fine, sorry.”

He makes his way over to her, slinging an arm around her shoulders, “What’s up, snaps?”

“It’s stupid.”

“Doubt it, try me.”

Max shrugs, “I feel normal.”

Steve slowly nods, “Yes, I see how that’s a problem.”

Max lightly laughs, shaking off his arm to head in her room. “I got used to not feeling normal here, I guess.”

Steve shrugs as he leans against the doorframe, “Hopefully we’re back to being normal all the time, Max.”

Max snorts, dumping her bag on the floor, “Me and the other freaks will let you know if it isn’t.”

Steve huffs, half tempted to correct her, shaking his head instead.
“Get your shit and take it to the laundry room, Mayfield, before it gets left out.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Max waves him off, “I’m working on it, dad.”

Steve rolls his eyes, heading back to the laundry room.

Max gathers up all her laundry from the trip, heading downstairs.

She barely gives Steve and Eddie a second glance while they dump Eddie's clothes in with Steves as she drops it off, beelining to the phone to dial Gareth’s number. 

“Emerson’s.”

“Hi, Mrs. Emerson!” Max says, as politely as she can, “It’s Max. We just got back and I couldn’t remember if Gare was there or at work.”

“Oh!”
Max doesn’t get a real answer as the phone is set down and she hears her walking off.
“Hey, Max, I’m literally going to work right now.”

“Oh, that’s fine. Call me when you get off or something, we’ll be here.”

“Cool, cool. Go annoy Steve for me!”

Before Max can tell him Eddie’s doing that for him, the line goes dead. 

Max huffs in annoyance as she sets the phone back on the hook to head in the living room.

—

Gareth swings Steve’s door open, pausing momentarily at the fact Steve and Eddie are half asleep curled around each other on the couch as Max and Lucas channel surf, ignoring them.

Max glances up from the TV long enough to acknowledge him with a nod, as Lucas half heartedly waves.

“Those two get worse or is it just me?” Gareth asks, flopping down in one of the recliners as he side-eyes the two on the couch. “Is that a Hawkin’s high gym shirt?”

“Oh,” Max snorts out a laugh, “Way worse. Invest in eye bleach, Gare.”

Gareth raises an eyebrow, which Max smirks at.
“No way, it worked?”

“Like a charm,” Max says, both Steve and Eddie rolling their eyes.

“You set my best friend up and didn’t tell me?”

“You had to work!”

“You come in there annoying me all the time, Harrington!”
Steve sits up a little to look at Gareth, lightly laughing when he sees he’s talking to Max.

“First off,” Max turns to glare at him, “You said you’d call me back with your schedule and did not. Secondly, it was two days. Cut the dramatics.”

Lucas snickers from his spot beside Max on the floor, “You heard Aunt Bird, babe, he is Eddie’s kid.”

Gareth decides he can’t exactly argue with Max, opting to glare at Lucas. “My favorite lesbian would never say such things about me, Sinclair.”

“She would and she did, Gare,” Eddie confirms, yawning. 

Gareth rolls his eyes, settling into the chair, “So, how was Cali, Red?”

“She got sunburnt,” Lucas states when Max doesn’t answer quickly enough.

“Duh, she’s the same consistency as paper, dude,” Gareth snorts out a laugh as Max glares.

“That’s what I said,” Lucas sighs, “She’s dayglow.”

Max turns her glare to Lucas, “Keep it up, see what happens.”

Gareth bites back a laugh at how terrified Lucas looks.
“So everyone made it back okay?”

Lucas, Eddie and Steve all exchange glances, smirking, as Max raises her eyebrow at gareth, looking a little too smug.

“Will didn’t get left at a rest stop, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Gareth turns the same shade as a tomato, shrugging, “What? No. That’s not - Why would I care? I was asking if you pushed Mike off a cliff.”

“Eddie was a better actor than that,” Lucas comments, returning his attention back to the TV. 

“Whatever you say, Emerson,” Max says, “Do you work Friday?”

Gareth shrugs, thankful for the topic change.
“I think I get off at like, eight. Why tiny tot?”

“We’re having a movie night since those two,” Max jerks a thumb over her shoulder at the couch, “Are having a date night and I don’t want to be here alone.”

Gareth glances between the two couples uneasily, “Uh, no I’m good.”

“Wasn’t asking,” Max shifts her gaze back to Gareth to glare at him, “El wanted me to tell you you’re coming.”

Gareth relaxes slightly, “Fine, just because it’s Ellie though, and not like, third wheeling you two.”

“Will will be there,” Lucas adds with a smirk, which morphs into a shit-eat-grin when Gareth blushes.

After careful planning, Max and Mike settled on adopting Gareth into their ragtag group of friends, thus making Will and Gareth spend more time together, hoping either one would have the guts to ask the other out.
Max didn’t exactly have high hopes, but Will was seemingly starting to understand the fact Gareth had a thing for him by the time they’d pulled back into Hawkins, so Mike and Max had abandoned the idea of kidnapping Will to go to a corroded coffin show.
And he’d explicitly told Max not to meddle in the situation.

However, he hadn’t included Mike in that statement. So, Mike has been tasked with coming up with an alternate plan, if they proved to be as bad as Steve and Eddie thanks to that loophole. 

Gareth shifts awkwardly in the chair, “So, my best friend is dating a jock now?”

“Ex jock,” Steve corrects.

“But yes,” Eddie says, craning his neck enough to grin at Gareth.

“Fuckin’ finally,” Gareth says, getting an eye roll from Steve and Eddie.

“Mike noticed it before they did,” Max comments, changing the channel again.

“Holy fuck, dude,” Gareth cackles, looking at Max, “ Wheeler noticed it before them?”

“Wheeler said they were oblivious.”

“Jesus, I knew you were clueless dude, but seriously? Mike realized he had a thing for you before you did?”

Lucas and Max both look at him, matching ‘are you shitting me’ expressions on their faces.

“You’re one to fuckin’ talk,” Eddie says, both him and Steve sitting up to look at Gareth like he’s crazy.

“What?”

Max sighs, slumping her head against Lucas’ shoulder, losing all faith and hoping Mike comes up with something even remotely good. 

—

Even with school out and a good chunk of Carver’s following moved out of town for college, the kids still opt to overtake Steve’s house most days.
At this point it’s abnormal for Steve or Eddie to walk in and not immediately hear children yelling at each other, music blaring, a movie going in the living room, or someone getting thrown in the pool. 

The kids have claimed the patio and pool today, Erica and El racing laps in the pool while Max and the boys crowd into the four patio lounge chairs with the Ice Cream they’d made Eddie go get before his shift with Gareth at the record store.

“We’re doing movie night this friday,” Max states, digging around in her ice cream for another cookie bit.

“It’s dad’s date, right?” Mike finally looks away from watching El, “I overheard Nance say his schedule got switched around.”

“Some people quit, but he’s still got Friday nights off.”

“I’ll let Jon know we need pizza,” Will says, trading off Ice cream pints with Dustin, “Where’s Steve and Eddie going?”

Max shrugs, “I think it’s just to the diner on the outside of town, but I didn’t ask.”

“It is,” Mike nods, holding his double chocolate out to Lucas and Max for either cookies and cream or peanut butter cup, “Trade?”

Max happily trades, “How do you know?”

“Uh, I asked Eddie?”

“No need to get snippy, shit,” Max mumbles, shoving a spoonful in her mouth, “I invited Gareth by the way.”

“And he’s coming?” Dustin confirms, grimacing at the flavor and holding butter crunch out to the group.

Lucas trades, nodding. “Yep, he gets off at eight, said he’d be over after he got off.”

El sloshes her way out of the pool, climbing in the lounge chair with Mike and stealing the ice cream.
“Tell Aunt Rob I want the breakfast club.”

“Already did,” Max says, “I gave her a list before her and dad-one went to work.” 
Max and Mike both Grimace, Max squints, mumbling out, “Dad-two? Mom? Before her and mom went to work.”

“Tell her to get some popcorn.”

“Already done, dad got us snacks when he went shopping yesterday.”

The group mumbles their appreciation as Erica makes her way out of the water, being forced to sit on the concrete after Dustin refuses to move.

—

Gareth parks in the driveway at the same time Steve does, both Steve and Eddie climbing out of the beemer. 

“Hey, I thought you two were goin’ out?”

“Pretty boy had to change out of his work clothes,” Eddie says, already crowding Steve’s space the moment he steps around the car, all three subtly glancing around the neighborhood for anyone outside. 

“Where you guys going anyway?’

“Just to a diner outside of town,” Steve says, “You won’t have to play supervision past ten.”

Gareth nods, “Cool, cool. Who all is here again? I was just told when, where, and to bring weed.”

Eddie whips around so fast his hair nearly catches Steve in the face, “You - what? You brought my children, what exactly , Emerson?”

Both Gareth and Steve cackle, Gareth holding his hands up in surrender, “Kidding, Ed. I’d never supply the runts.”

Eddie doesn’t look convinced as Steve shakes his head, pulling him inside by their conjoined hands, “Whole groups here, Gare, if you smoke please do it outside.”

Before Eddie can have another melt down, Gareth scoffs, “I don’t even have cigarettes on me, Steve-o, when have I ever smoked around Red and Sinclair?”

“We do it,” Steve shrugs.
Gareth gasps, making Steve roll his eyes as he pushes the door open.
“Max, Gareth’s here.”

“Living room!”

They’re already all spread out, Lucas and Max claiming one chair while Mike and El have the other, and Dustin and Erica have claimed one couch, leaving the other for Will and Gareth, Will looking so nervous he reminded Eddie of Steve at the first concert he’d dragged him to about week after he’d been released from the hospital post Vecna. 

“Steve’s gonna change and we’re gonna go,” Eddie announces, fishing money out of his wallet to hand off to Max, “Pizza for dinner cool with you guys?”

“I’m eating my body weight in popcorn,” Erica states, shoving a handful in her mouth for emphasis.

Eddie looks slightly conflicted, before shrugging, “Whatever you wanna do, kid, food is food, I guess.”

“Arg’s gonna bring us food in about an hour, so we probably won’t need as much as you thought,” Mike informs Eddie, who happily sticks a bill back in his wallet before handing it over.

Gareth makes his way over to the couch, taking up residence on one end, closest to Erica and the popcorn, as Steve comes back down holding his wallet up to Eddie in a silent question, which Eddie answers with a nod.

“Max go ahead and order then, We’ll be back later. Whose all crashing here?”

The group as a whole shouts ‘me!’.

“Great, girls in Max’s room, no arguments.”

Everyone rolls their eyes at Eddie, even Steve.

“Red isn’t shivering, so I doubt hell froze over, baby.”

“Still nice and toasty,” Max confirms as she heads to the nearest phone to call and let Argyle know they are ready, making Gareth and Mike snort out laughs. 

“Nice try though, Ed,” Gareth says, reaching over to steal some of Erica’s popcorn and getting glared at for it, “A for effort.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, ushering Steve out of the door, “Don’t break or burn anything down before we get back.”

The group promptly yells ‘no promises’ as Eddie closes the door. 

Will settles on the other end of the couch, his own bowl of popcorn in hand, as El climbs out of the chair to dig through their stack of VHS tapes.

“What are we watching, Janie?” Gareth asks, reaching back over to Erica bowl only to have his hand smacked, prompting Will to offer his. 

“Sixteen candles!”

“Absolutely not,” Dustin yells.

“That sounds stupid,” Erica states.

“Breakfast club?” El says, holding it up from the pile.

“No!”

“Then you pick,” El mumbles, defeated, turning to sit back down. 

“I’ll watch the breakfast club,” Gareth offers, before turning to Dustin, “It’s newer, plus El never gets to pick man.”

“I’m with Gare,” Will states, “Besides, I saw your picks today. Hers are better.”

Dustin scoffs as El happily puts the tape in the VCR, “Of course you’d side with Gareth, you always do.”

Gareth gives him a confused look as Will stares wide eyed at Dustin, willing him to shut up .
Max flicks his ear as she walks by on her way back to her chair, “Don’t make me unadopt you, again.”

“He’s still unadopted from the last time,” Lucas states, holding up their blanket for Max to climb back under.

Before Gareth can ask what he’d managed to do this time, Dustin rolls his eyes with a scoff. “Keep it up and I’ll tell Steve you two snuck off during the movie.”

Max flips him off, “Do it, and I’ll tell Suzie you voted not to go back through Utah next year.”

Will cackles as Dustin starts yelling at Max, prompting Gareth to yell over him. “Hey Hey Hey!”

They both look at him, expectantly.

“Don’t tell his imaginary girlfriend lies, Maxine!”

Mike and Will both laugh so hard they snort, Mike nearly tumbling out of the chair as El climbs back in and Will falls into Gareth.

“She isn’t,” Erica states, offering her popcorn bowl to Gareth, “We met her. Believe it or not, there is a girl out there dumb enough to date him.”

Dustin whines out a ‘hey’ as Gareth laughs and offers her a high five, slinging the other arm around Will’s shoulders, both still laughing in Dustin’s general direction and missing the less than subtle smirk between Mike and Max. 

Maybe it isn’t as hopeless as Max thinks.

Not even halfway through the movie, Erica kicks Dustin to the floor to stretch out across her couch, ignoring his pleas to just steal one throw pillow.
Ten minutes later they were both out, Gareth barely saving Steve’s carpet from Erica’s tipped over popcorn bowl. 

“At least now we don’t have to watch what Dustin picked,” Mike states, yawning. 

After glaring at Mike for making her yawn, Max shrugs. “I told Aunt Rob not to rent that one.”

“Lucas, your girlfriend is a genius.”

After the movie ends, and Max forces Lucas and Mike to help her clean up the living room, they settle on Max’s pick. 

By the time Steve and Eddie make it back, they’re nearly half way through back to the future.
El is asleep on Mike’s shoulder and Will is nearly out on Gareth’s.

Eddie waves to get Max’s attention.
“Hey, kid, we’re back.”

“Movie’s almost over, gonna crash after that,” Max mumbles through a yawn. 

Steve tosses blankets over Erica and Dustin, momentarily trying to decide if he needed to provide a pillow for him before changing his mind.
“We’re going upstairs, don’t party too hard.”

“So we can’t break into the liquor cabinet?”

“Mostly water after my teens,” Steve states, following Eddie upstairs, “Have at it.” 

Max scoffs, “Being told I can just takes the fun out of it!”

Steve looks back over his shoulder to grin at the group, "I know."

Mike and Max both scowl back as they mimic him, turning their attention back to the TV.

Chapter Text

The closer the fourth of July gets, the more closed off Max is. The sinclairs had left at the end of June for a few days out of town, claiming to want some family time to ward off the depression of it being a year after Starcourt. With no Erica to barge into Max’s room and drag her out - literally - while insisting they go have ‘sister time’ at either the record shop annoying Gareth to no end or running amuck around town or Lucas to sprawl out in the floor to listen to Max rant about the latest horror novel she’d stolen from Eddie, the group was getting worried.
Max could only handle so many makeovers from El or forced comic book store trips from Dustin before she lost her mind. 

“Get out of my room or so help me-!” Max yells, spinning around to finish her rant at who she assumed to be Dustin or maybe Steve trying to coax her out, again.

Mike sheepishly waves, “Not in your room.”
He is in fact standing just out of the threshold of her door, Steve must’ve left it open after he tried to talk her into breakfast downstairs.

Max narrows her eyes at the loophole. “You the next sacrifice?”

Mike shrugs, “No one asked me to come up here.”

Max glares at him, waiting for an explanation.

He holds up a bag from the record shop, “Gare gives us discounts now.”

“Maybe it’s new to you , I’ve been getting a discount.”

“Well,” Mike shrugs, holding out the bag, “He likes you better. Can I come in or should I leave this and back away slowly?”

Max scowls, slowly crosses the room, uncrossing her arms as she goes.
“Depends on what’s in it.”

“Lucas said you lost some of your shit between moving twice in a year and the earthquake,” Mike drops one handle of the bag to dig around in it, “Kate Bush, Madonna, and…”
He holds up a cassette for Max to see, “They’re more glam than metal, but…”

“Holy shit, didn’t that just come out?” Max speeds up her last few steps across the room to take Rage for order by Queensryche.

“First copy sold in Hawkins,” Mike confirms, holding out the bag again.

Max stares at him for a second before slightly deflating with a sigh, “You can come in.”

Mike follows her in, flopping across her bed as she unwraps the cassette to put in the tape player.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“No,” Max scoffs, copying Mike, “What’s there to talk about?”

Mike shrugs, digging in the bag to hand over a candy bar, “The fact everything went to shit?”

Max laughs, quietly thanking him as she opens the candy.
“It did, didn’t it?”

They sit in silence, listening to the tape until side A stops and Mike gets up to flip the tape.

“El tell you I yelled at her?”

“Will did,” Mike says, “El knows she pushed too hard, so she isn’t like, mad or anything.”

“I yelled at Steve this morning.”

Mike shrugs, climbing back on the bed to sit cross legged at the foot of it, “We all get it, Max. We’re just worried.”

After another beat of silence, and Mike pretending he doesn’t see Max wiping tears off her cheeks, he clears his throat.
“Yell at Dustin next, he probably deserves it.”

That makes Max laugh, sitting up to dig through the bag for the other tapes and assorted snacks.
“Yeah, he does. He’s unadopted again, by the way.”

“You already re-adopted him?” Mike asks, “I’m still mad he made me hike an extra half mile and back to see a tree .”

Max looks away from the tapes with a small smile, “Yeah, that’s at least a three month unadoption period.”

“At least,” Mike agrees.

“Can you stomach Madonna next?”

Mike grimaces, “Only if I can call Arg and make him bring us pizza.”

“I haven’t eaten today,” Max quietly admits, “So, probably a good idea.”

 Mike tsks, heading out of the room to go call Argyle, “What the fuck are we gonna do with you, sis?”

“Unadopt me?” She yells, unwrapping the Madonna cassette.

“Nah,” Mike yells up the stairs, “Then who would bully Dustin with me?”

By the time Eddie and Steve get home, Mike and Max have moved to the living room blasting one of Eddie’s Metalica tapes, mostly gone pizza forgotten on the coffee table as they scream lyrics.

“At least she ate today?”

“That would be an improvement from yesterday,” Eddie agrees with a nod, all but yelling over the volume. “Shitheads! Hey!”

Neither hear them, so Steve turns the stereo off, making them both spin around, Mike falling over a throw pillow in the floor making Max cackle.

“We’re home,” Eddie states the obvious, walking to the middle of the living room to pick up the pillows.

“Sorry,” They say in unison.

Eddie shrugs, tossing the pillows back towards the couch, “No one called Hops, so I’d say you’re in the clear.”

“Maybe don’t leave stuff all over the floor though,” Steve comments, bending over to pick up scattered cassettes, “Hospitals gonna be busy with idiots burning themselves on fireworks, too long a wait time for a busted open head because they tripped on… Madonna?”

“We’ll go back upstairs,” Max mumbles, holding her hand out for the tapes, “And keep the volume down.”

“Actually,” Eddie says, digging through his own collection of tapes to hand some off to Mike, “Pretty sure it’s scientifically proven that blowing your eardrums out makes you feel better.”

Steve looks flat out pained, “Says who?”

“Me, duh.”

“Right, of course,” Steve rolls his eyes, “Fair’s in town the next two days, planning on going?”

“Tomorrow after mom’s party, El wants to go see the fireworks,” Mike states, looking through the pile of tapes Eddie handed him.

“No.”

Mike looks up, looking at Max with his usual curled lip, “What are you, deaf?”

Max scoffs out a ‘no’ as Steve says ‘Probably’, making Eddie roll his eyes.

“We’re going tomorrow, with El and Lucas. You agreed to it last week?”

“That’s right, they get back tonight don’t they,” Eddie mumbles, handing another tape to Mike.

“Shit, I forgot,” Max sighs, “Yeah, I’m going tomorrow night.”

“Oh, okay, well, if you wanna go tonight let us know,” Steve offers, turning to head upstairs, “We’ve gotta go get the last load of Robs’ stuff.”

—

July 4th

Max and El finally abandon tormenting Mike when Holly asks Max to help her sneak a cupcake, which she happily does.

Max holds her finger up to her lips, shh-ing her as she hands it off, “Don’t tell anyone.”
Holly just gives her a devious grin before rushing around the side of the house to hide from Karen, making Max laugh.

“Did you just give my sister sugar?”

“Absolutely not,” Max quickly shakes her head.

Mike stares her down for a second before shrugging. “She’s staying home with my parents tonight anyway.”

“So, should I give her another one and tell her to annoy Ted while we’re gone?”

Mike pretends to think about it for all of two seconds before nodding, “Give her two.”

El walks up, scowling. Max raises an eyebrow, poking at her cheek until the scowl lessens.
“Will does not want to come with us.”

“What?” Mike huffs, “He said he would!”

“Something about we’d be an uneven number since Erica is going?” El shrugs.

Max and Mike look at each other before grinning at each other, and Max rushing off from the couple to the patio chairs across the yard. 

“Gare, you’re off tonight, right?”

Gareth barely glances at Max before nodding, “Anyway, Ed, I’m saying we should just replace Grant, he said he wasn’t coming back to Hawkins.”

“With who , Gare?”

Gareth shrugs, turning to Max. “You’re cool, you know how to play bass?”

“What? No, listen, we’re going to the fair tonight, think you can come with?”

Gareth’s expression immediately sours, shaking his head.

“Please?”

Eddie and Steve both raise an eyebrow at her as Gareth sighs.
“Why?”

“There’s an uneven number of us, we’d have to either make someone sit out a ride or kick Erica out.”

Eddie hides his smirk behind his beer, nudging Steve until he too is hiding a grin.

“Who am I gonna be stuck with? Erica? No thanks, she’s mean.”

“It’ll be Will, Please ?”

Gareth glances across the yard at Will and Dustin, digging through the firework stash for something, before looking back to Max and sighing.

“If you don’t come, Will’s not gonna come.”

“Fine, since you said please.”

“Thank you!” Max yells, already rushing back to Mike.

“Go ahead, Munson, say it.”

“Say what?” Eddie asks with a grin, tipping his beer up as Gareth rolls his eyes. 

The kids decide to disperse after Ted comes outside to mingle with Hopper and Wayne, both of whom look like trapped animals enjoying no part of it.

“Rides or games first?”

“Rides, duh,” Erica states, giving Mike a ‘you’re dumb, right?’ look.

“If we do rides first, I can have popcorn while we watch Mike try to play the games,” Max shrugs, “Twister first?”

Mike scoffs as El readily agrees, pulling him into the fair behind Erica.

Once they’ve all gotten in line, El and Erica excitedly discuss the order in which they were going to make everyone ride the rides.

“Ferris wheel last, duh.”

“Why are we listening to the child again?”

“Because, Gareth ,” Erica says, looking over her shoulder, “Steve told us to stay together.”

“He just did that because Andy’s here somewhere,” Max says, standing on her tiptoes to look through the crowd. “As long as we don’t like, go off alone we should be fine.”

Erica and El neither one look too sure, making Max give them a reassuring smile.
“Wayne’s here somewhere, it’s fine, I promise.”

“Why’s Wayne here?” Dustin asks, turning back to the group after also looking around the crowds.

“Uh, date?” Max shrugs, “He may not be here yet, I just overheard it in passing.”

“Date?”

“He used the word date,” Lucas confirms, “Eddie was giving him shit for it.”

Dustin looks slightly confused, turning back to face the rest of the line. “Huh, weird.”

The group all exchange looks of confusion before shrugging.

The entrance gate opens, and Erica drags Dustin to a seat as El drags Mike to the one opposite of it.

“They’re way too giddy,” Gareth mumbles, following Will to one of the carts.

“El’s never been to a fair,” Will says, “The excitement will wear off in a few rides.”

 “Never?”

Will shakes his head, “I’ll… Explain it later.”

Gareth gives him a weird look, but doesn’t push the subject.

The ride starts, and El’s excited giggles only get louder as the ride gets faster.

“Excitement’ll wear off, huh?”

“I could be wrong, stranger things have happened.”

Gareth laughs, “Sure, whatever you say Byers.”

Erica and El drag the group to every ride, before Erica states they’re going to the games and food.

“We haven’t done that one,” Gareth points to one that flips upside down.

“No one wants to do it with me,” El shrugs, “It’s fine.”

“Oh.”

Gareth lets himself be pulled behind the group by Will until Erica stops by the row of games, turning to Max with her hand held out.

“Keeper of the money, I need some.”

Max lightly laughs, digging in her pockets to produce Erica’s five.

“You guys go ahead, me and Janie are gonna go ride that ride,” Gareth says, making El grin. “Meet back here when we’re done?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna be right around here,” Will answers, smiling as El takes off after Gareth.

“Either ask the boy out or wipe that dopey smile off your face,” Erica says, heading off with Lucas to find a game.

“Why is she so mean?”

“Little sister syndrome,” Max shrugs, “Mike has it too.”

“Hey!”

Will and Max give him matching shit eat grins as he rolls his eyes.

“Whatever, you two suck.”

“Eh,” they both shrug.

“I’m gonna go get food,” Max announces, heading to one of the food lines as Will trails after her.

“Keeper of the money, can I have a funnel cake?”

“Split it?”

“Fine, but I’m getting my own drink.”

Max snarls her nose in fake disgust, “Ew, I don’t want your cooties.”

“What are we, three?”

“Mike might be…”

Will laughs as they walk up to the window, Max ordering three lemonades, a cherry limeade, and two funnel cakes.

“Do you have an army I don’t know about?”

Max shrugs, “I don’t wanna share with Erica. She always steals the lemon from the cup.”

“Fair,” Will nods along, taking a funnel cake and his drink as they come out.

As they rejoin the group, Max hands off the funnel cake and lemonade to Erica before holding out the other two drinks to Mike.
“Which one do you want?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Mike shrugs, taking the cherry limeade, “Thanks Red.”

Max shrugs it off, stealing a bite of funnel cake off the plate Will has.

“Hey, there’s Wayne.”

The group all turns their attention to the fair entrance.

“He’s gotta be waiting for his date,” Lucas comments, taking Max’s drink from her.

“I wonder who it is?”

“Who who is?” El asks as her and Gareth walk back up.

“Wayne’s date,” Mike answers, pointing in the direction of Wayne, so they can also watch. “Like the ride?”

“I like to remain up side up,” El states, “But it was fun.”

“Right side up,” Max gently corrects, taking her cup back from Lucas, “I don’t see anyone. Maybe we misheard him?”

“Eddie said he couldn’t believe he’d actually asked her out,” Lucas insists, reaching over to steal a piece of Erica’s funnel cake only to have his hand smacked away without her looking away from the front gates, hissing out an ‘ouch’.

“Maybe he got here early,” Erica mumbles, tearing off her own piece, making Lucas half-heartedly glare at her, Max reaching over to tear him off a piece of her and Will’s.
“Yeah, he seems like the ‘if you're not early your late’ kind of person.”

“Wait, he’s talking to someone!” Dustin whisper yells, standing on his tiptoes to see.

“No way,” Gareth chuckles, elbowing Max, “To his left!”

Max leans over, immediately giggling with El. “Is that…?”

El wildly nods, “It is!”

“Who? Who?” Mike and Lucas both rush to get to their eye level, looking to the left of Wayne, instantly giggling with the girls.

“Dustin’s mom,” Gareth supplies, a little too happy. 

Dustin shrugs, “So? They’re friends.”

Max and Lucas both shift their gaze to Dustin.
“What?”

“They’ve been hanging out since before we went to California.”

“Did your mom say she had plans?” Max carefully asks, eyeing Dustin.

He shrugs, “Yeah, so what?”

The group waits for it to sink in, half watching Wayne and Claudia, half side-eyeing Dustin.

“Holy shit, my mom is on a date with Wayne.”

“There it is,” Gareth mumbles, patting Dustin on the back.

Max snorts out a laugh, turning her attention back to the gate.
“And they’re heading this way, scatter!”

Several mumble ‘shit!’ as Lucas and Mike rush back to the game they were in line for and Erica, El, and Max follow them while Dustin, Will and Gareth all make their way to a different game’s line. 

Wayne stops, pulling Max’s braid.

“Eds said you and the kids were comin’ out here.”

“Oh, hey Uncle Wayne!”

He cocks an eyebrow up, telling her they’d definitely been caught. “Boyfriend winnin’ ya a prize?”

“Says he is.”

Claudia giggles, “Isn’t he the only one in the group that can actually throw a ball?”

Dustin and Mike both turn around to whine out ‘hey!’, making Wayne laugh.

“Well, I can’t tell him that, his ego’ll get too big, duh.”

Wayne snorts, “Stop bein’ mean to the poor boy, red.”

Claudia lightly smacks Wayne’s arm, “That’s how you keep them interested, hon!”

Max bites back a smile, nodding. “She gets it.”

Wayne rolls his eyes, “Sure, sure, whatever you say…”

Will and Gareth both snicker at Dustin’s soured expression.

“We’ll be somewhere around the vendor booths until the fireworks,” Wayne says, digging his wallet out, “Then we’ll be up there on the hill if you need us.”

“Got it uncle Wayne,” Max nods.

Wayne hands her a five as she looks back at him confused. “Tell loverboy you and Er want the giant stuffed animals.”

“Oh, no, Dads gave  -”

“I know,” Wayne says, shoving it back in her hand with a smile before he and Claudia walk off, heading towards the rows of vendor booths.

“- Us money?” Max finishes, “Okay.”

Mike looks at El to shake his head, “Don’t expect a prize, babe.”

“I didn’t,” El says simply, making Erica and Max laugh as Mike slowly turns around, nodding.

“Love the support.”

By the time they trudge up the hill to meet Steve and Eddie for fireworks, Dustin’s inherited Erica’s drink so she can carry the stuffed lion Lucas managed to win her, El’s happily carrying around a stuffed dog Max is almost certain she’d intervened in helping Mike win, and Max has a giant bear.

“I only see six children, I am missing two,” Eddie states, recounting heads as he hands out blankets to sit on.

“Gare and Will are on their way,” Erica reports, taking her blanket to sit by El and Mike.

“Good enough I guess,” Eddie mumbles.

“We haven’t seen Andy,” Max says, “They’re fine.”

Eddie nods, returning to his spot next to Steve on the blanket they’re sharing with Robin.

“See Wayne?” Steve asks, moving closer to Eddie once the other people headed their way sit with the group of people at the base of the hill.

“And his date,” Max smirks.

Eddie points to Dustin, mouthing ‘is he okay?’.

Lucas and Max both shake their heads, Lucas mouthing back, ‘Don’t bring it up!’.

Eddie nods, shooting them a thumbs up.
Robin gives the back of Dustin’s head a semi sympathetic look before turning back to her conversation with El about the rides.

Gareth and Will make their way up the hill, Will now carrying a stuffed animal the same size as El’s.

Steve bites back a smile but doesn’t comment as he hands Gareth a blanket, “Last one since Erica refuses to share.”

Max looks back at Eddie once they’ve sat down, both grinning like idiots, Steve whispering for them to both grow up.

Joyce and Hopper join them shortly, with their own lawn chairs along with Nancy, Jonathan and Argyle, all crowding onto one blanket.

“Eds,” The group all turns to look at Wayne and Claudia heading up the hill, “My trucks too far away, got any extras?”

“Kick Erica off or open the back of the van.”

Erica gets up, handing over her blanket to Wayne with a smile before claiming the edge of Lucas and Max’s. 

“How come you can’t be that nice to me?” Gareth asks, narrowing his eyes at Erica.

“I am being nice,” Erica says with a smile, “You just don’t know it yet!”

Will whips around wide eyed to stare down Erica as Max and Eddie try to stop their laughter and Lucas thumps the back of Erica’s head.
“Sorry, she’s an asshole.”

“Hey!” Erica huffs, crowding her way onto the blanket, forcing Max to all but climb in Lucas’ lap for all three to fit. “You were saying?”

Max rolls her eyes, playfully pushing Erica away from her, “That you’re an asshole, sissy.”

“Fireworks!” El happily announces, making everyone stop their bickering to watch.

Chapter Text

Steve pulls in the driveway, barely remembering to grab the bag full of movies and candy from his passenger seat that Eddie called and requested, since apparently they were hosting an impromptu sleepover with El so Hopper and Joyce could have a child free night while Will was at Mike’s, and Steve tried his best not to think about that too much, honestly.

He can hear both girls in the kitchen giggling when he opens the door, which could only mean he’d have a giant mess to clean up later, but he can’t find the energy to care at the moment.

“Girls are making waffles for dinner,” Eddie announces.

“Eggos?”

“Homemade,” Eddie says, his expression of pure exhaustion not matching his very much forced upbeat tone.

“Oh,” Steve chuckles, “Having fun?”

“ They are. I’m worried the kitchen is gonna burn down,” Eddie emphasizes by leaning over to look back in the kitchen, both girls giggling wildly as they stir something into their batter bowl. 

Steve chuckles, making his way into the living room to faceplant on the couch after he drops the bag on a chair.

“So, how was work?” Eddie asks, still watching the girls like hawks as the giggling increases. 

Steve forces himself to turn over to look at Eddie, “Good news!”

“Mark got fired?” Eddie hopefully asks.

“Sadly, no.”
Steve wishes Robin’s weekday replacement had gotten fired. He never shuts up and voices his dislike of Eddie and hellfire at least twice a shift, and it’s only gotten worse since he found out Eddie’s his ‘roommate’, helping him keep Max alive.

“Oh.”

“However, I can write him up now.”

“You have to be a -” Eddie cuts himself off as his brain catches up to the conversation and finally looks at Steve, “Holy shit, babe!”

Steve smiles, “Starting tomorrow, I am officially assistant manager to Keith.”

“You deserve it, baby.”

Steve shrugs, staring at the ceiling until Eddie climbs on the couch, half laying on top of him.

“Don’t you make the schedule now?”

“Yeah?”

“You’ll never have to close friday nights now, never have to work with Mark.”

Steve cuts his eyes at Eddie, trying to suppress a smile.

“Don’t you get a pay raise?”

“You make excellent points, Eds,” Steve lightly laughs, snaking his arms around him, “I’m also in charge of which new movies we get.”

“The kids will love you more than they already do.”

Max hangs over the back of the couch, inches away from Eddie and Steve’s faces.
“We made fancy waffles.”

“I’m going to regret this question,” Steve sighs, “But what is a fancy waffle?”

“Yours has blueberries in it.”

“How messy is my kitchen?”

“That,” Max pokes at his cheek, “Is the question you regret asking. We’re gonna clean it, promise.”

Eddie makes a sound somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, pushing Max back over the couch. “Mine better have strawberries, Gingersnap.”

“Duh!” Max yells, heading back to the kitchen, “And mine has sprinkles!”

“So does mine!” El yells from the kitchen, before shrieking out giggles at something.

Steve and Eddie both sigh, Eddie letting his head lightly knock against Steve’s.
“They aren’t gonna sleep at all, are they?”

“Not a chance.”

“Are you two coming or not?” Max yells, making them both sigh as they tumble off the couch to head to the table.

Steve steals a glance in the kitchen, silently wondering how waffle batter made it on the top of the cabinets.

“Snaps, there is more sugar on that plate than waffle!” Eddie grumbles as she covers her sprinkle - waffle with whipped cream.

“Dad! It’s our last full week before school starts!”

Eddie raises an eyebrow, waving his hand for her to continue as Steve crosses his arms, ready to hear whatever she’s fixing to come up with.

“It’s the last of Summer!” Max continues dramatically, “My last week of being a carefree teenager!”
Eddie narrows his eyes, trying to ward off a smile as Max finishes her spiel. 
“No worries, no responsibilities! Let me live life to the fullest!”

“You’ve spent too much time with Eds,” Steve states, reaching across the table for the syrup.

“That was a bit much, wasn’t it?” Eddie asks.

“Just a touch.”

“So I can’t use chocolate syrup?”

“No!” they both say in unison.

“Damn, I thought that’d work.”

“Sit down and eat your sugar with a side of waffle before I make you get real food.”

After what Eddie is sure is a cavity-inducing dinner, the girls clean the kitchen before overtaking the living room to watch movies and eat popcorn, so they claim, but every time Eddie walks by there’s more throwing popcorn at each other and discussing how cute the actors are than eating and watching. 

“Is that normal?”

Steve leans over to look in the sliding door towards the living room, passing the cigarette back to Eddie before shrugging.
“That’s what me and Robs do, so, yeah.”

“There’s gonna be popcorn everywhere.”

“We’ll find it all eventually,” Steve mumbles, curling back into Eddie on the lounge chair.

the girls laughter carries to the patio, followed by Max cheering.

“At least one piece of popcorn is gonna be eaten,” Steve comments, making Eddie laugh.

“You and Robs really do that?”

“All the time, she sucks at it.”
Eddie laughs harder, shaking his head.
“We find popcorn for days after movie nights.”

“You two are worse than the kids.”

“Like you and Gareth don’t act like giant children around each other!”

“Eh,” Eddie shrugs, tightening his arms around Steve, “Guilty as charged.”

Max skids to a stop outside, making Steve nearly jump out of the chair.
“The fuck, Red?”

“Can we prank call the guys?”

“Don’t do that to Karen, come on now,” Eddie says, “It’s already pretty late, Red.”

“They aren’t at the Wheelers,” Max says, giving them a weird look, “They’re at Dustin’s. And Claudia’s on nights this week at the hospital.”

“They’re unsupervised ?” Steve asks.

“Oh, like you two are watching us like hawks.”

“But we’re here ,” Eddie says, “There’s no telling what four teenage boys are doing without an adult there.”

Max laughs so hard she snorts, leaning against the doorframe for support.
“Dude, they’re playing DnD! They've literally been talking about it all week!"

“Right,” Steve mumbles, “We forgot who we were talking about.”

“ One prank call, Gingersnap. One!” Eddie says.

Max cackles, rushing back into the house.
“El they said it’s okay!”

They both chuckle as El nearly trips over a pile of blankets to meet Max at the phone.

“Radio call in three… Two… One…” Steve mumbles, leaning over enough to see the girls dialing the number.

“They are not gonna call and tattle!”

Steve turns to give Eddie a ‘You sure about that?’ look, as Max laughs, hanging up the phone after the apparent prank call.

“Steve, come in Steve!”

“I was mistaken,” Eddie sighs, reaching over to get their walkie off the other chair to hand to Steve.

“Go ahead, Henderson,” Steve says, looking all too smug.

“Tell Max to leave us alone, we are having girl-free time.”

“Sure, Dusty, I’ll tell her.”

“Thank you!”

Steve sits the walkie down, making no attempt to call Max back outside or tell her to leave them alone.

“Hey, you ever ask permission to prank call someone?”

Steve snorts, “Yeah, right after I asked permission to throw a kegger.”

Eddie chuckles, “And she’s supposed to be the cool one…”

“Sad part is, she is the cool one babe.”

The guys make their way inside after another cigarette, the girls sprawled out in the floor watching a new movie, this one apparently requiring more attention so no popcorn is being thrown.

“Don’t stay up too late.”

“Sure, mom,” The girls answer Steve in unison.

“You even hear what he said?”

“Yeah,” Max mumbles, “Don’t leave popcorn in the floor.”

Steve decides to leave the battle alone because that’s just as good, turning to head upstairs with Eddie not far behind him.
“Yep, that’s what I said, kiddo.”

Max suddenly turns to El, “Wait, is that what he said?”

El shrugs, not looking away from the TV, “Wasn’t listening.”

Max shrugs, turning her attention back to the movie.
“Wanna mess with the guys some more?”

“Eddie said one phone call.”

Max cuts her eyes at El, smirking.
“Is that all we can do?”

El looks at her, both busting into giggles as they rush to turn the movie off and go to Max’s room, trying to be as quiet as possible so they don’t disturb Steve and Eddie. 

Ten minutes later, blind folded in Max’s floor, El uses her powers to spy on the boys, Max watching expectantly.

“They’re finishing up DnD.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

“Our boyfriends are boring.”

“Yep.”

Max huffs, slumping back against the wall.

“Boys are gross,” El says, matter-of-factly, with a grimace. “Why do we like them again?”

“Ours specifically?” Max asks, “Because unfortunately we think they’re cute. In general? I really wish I knew. Why?”

El takes off her blind fold, still grimacing, “They are having a burping contest.”

Max snarls her nose, “Yeah, I don’t know why we like them El.”

“They don’t stay this gross, do they?”

Max has the answer ‘no absolutely not they grow up eventually!’ on the tip of her tongue, as Eddie walks down the hall by her room and burps himself, Steve laughing out a ‘nice!’ from their room.

“Yeah, they’re always pretty gross," Max states, matching expression of disgust on her face.

“Lucky us,” El deadpans.

—

“So, movies and snacks until we crash?” Dustin asks, already heading to the kitchen.

“Nah,” Will says, “I’m kinda bored of movie nights.”

“He’s just crabby that he can’t cuddle with Gareth this time,” Mike mumbles, stretching out in Dustin’s living room floor.

Dustin and Lucas murmur their agreements as Will rolls his eyes.

“Actually, I see where he’s coming from,” Lucas says, almost pouting, “I usually spend Thursday nights with Max until Steve kicks me out.”

“Come in, Nerds.”

“Jesus, Max spends too much time with Erica,” Mike grumbles, picking up the radio. “What do you want, Asswipe?”

“Dude!” Lucas hisses, diving towards Mike for the radio. 

“We’re bored, wanna do something?”

“Like what?” Dustin asks, almost skittish sounding.

“Meet us on the corner by my house.”

“You want us to sneak out?” Lucas grabs Mike’s arm to hold the walkie closer to him.

“Claudia’s not home, right?” Max asks, El cuts in from the background, “So we’re technically the only ones sneaking out! It’ll be fun!”

“No way!” Dustin nearly yells, if Mike wasn’t so far away it most likely would’ve woken the guys up if they were asleep yet. 

“Why not? We just have to be back before your mom gets home, right?” Will asks, already standing to head to the door.

“Uh,” Mike finally wrenches the walkie free from Lucas’ grip, “Steve and Eddie, for one thing.”

“Erica would tell on us!” Dustin adds, voice an Octave higher than normal.

“Erica’s with Tina tonight,” Lucas states.

Mike looks at the clock, “Steve’s off tomorrow, doubt he’s still up.”

“Eddie’s not still up if Steve isn’t,” Lucas says.

“If they get caught, we are all dead, guys,” Dustin says, shaking his head, “How about we don’t and say we did?”

“They won’t,” Lucas says, a little too sure for Dustin’s likings.

They all look at Dustin, who sighs.
“Fine. But if we get caught-“

”We won’t!” Lucas promises.

“Yes! Give us Ten minutes to make sure mom and dad aren’t getting back up, then we meet on the corner.”

“Got it!“ Will says, way too excited, as he and Mike rush to hunt down their shoes in the mess they’ve made in Dustin’s living room. 

Ten minutes later, after a change of clothes and finding ‘annoying the citizens of Hawkins’ as El called it, appropriate shoes, the girls sneak down the stairs, trying their hardest not to step on the ones that creak on their way to the back door, the only one they’d decided they could leave unlocked and open enough to not have to scale the gutter pipe or tree when they get back.

Max shushes her for the fifth time, “El, seriously, I don’t think they’re asleep yet!”

“It is going to be fine, Max.”

“It is, just be quiet!” Max mumbles, following her through the house and to the back door, leaving it ajar just enough it isn’t noticeable from outside.

They hop the fence around the back yard, heading to the corner, walking up just as the guys bike up.

“Where exactly are we going?” Lucas asks, making Dustin’s eyes widen more than they already have been for the past ten minutes as he most likely realizes they hadn’t thought this through.

Will shrugs, “Where do normal kids go when they sneak out?”

“Skull rock,” Lucas snorts out, him and Mike laughing.

“Let me rephrase,” Dustin says, unamused, “Where do normal kids who have fifth and sixth wheels go?”

A door slams, making Dustin jump and whip around, looking at Steve’s. Max snorts out a laugh, knowing it has to be Mrs. Woods letting her dog out one more time before heading to bed.

Lucas and Mike shrug as El and Max climb on the back of their bikes.
“Good thing we aren’t normal,” Max says, still kind of giggling at Dustin whose eyeing Steve’s front door like it’s going to come to life and eat them, while hooking her chin over Lucas’ shoulder, “Hey, lets go to the lake.”

Dustin whips around to give her an even crazier look, “The what now?”

“Lake,” Max shrugs, “The split from the earthquake is a healed now, so it’s safe, right?”

Dustin doesn’t look like he agrees glancing between Lucas and Mike, but Will shrugs and pushes off the curb heading towards the lake.

“Am I the only sane one here?” Dustin mumbles, following the group as they peddle out towards the easiest way to lovers lake.

—

“Did you hear that?” Steve asks, slightly sitting up as Eddie shrugs.

“Probably just the girls going to bed.”

“Shit, you're right.”

Steve lays back down, curling into Eddie as whatever tape Eddie’s listening to ends.
Eddie swears he hears a door downstairs open, but brushes it off, thinking Steve hearing the girls has made him a little too paranoid.

“Think the girls left the guys alone?”

“Not a chance,” Steve chuckles, “Surprised Dusty hasn’t radio’d anymore to complain, actually.”

Eddie gives him a smirk, “I turned our radio off.”

—

The kids end up at the lake, skipping rocks and sitting on fallen tree trunks.

“So, why the delinquent stunt?” Will asks, perched on a log next to Dustin.

Max shrugs, “Don’t teenagers sneak out at least once?”

“The ones who end up in the back of Hopper’s car do,” Dustin says, handing another rock to El so Mike can show her how to skip it again.

“Dad won’t arrest us Dustin, relax," Will rolls his eyes.

“ Hopper won’t do anything more than take us home and look disappointed, sure, but Eddie ? He’ll skin us alive and give us a lecture on why we shouldn’t sneak out at midnight!”

“Two am, actually,” Max interjects after double checking her watch, “And Wrong dad, doofus. Eddie would probably high five us if we got caught. Steve though?”

“Oh, we’d be dead,” Lucas agrees.

El suddenly cheers as she actually skips a rock, making them all jump before nervously chuckling at themselves. 

“We’re fine, Dust. We just gotta get home before your mom does.”

“A million things could go wrong between now and then!”

“We’ve all snuck out before,” Mike says, walking back from the waters edge, his arm slung around El’s shoulders.

“For the upside down, not for fun! If this is fun," Dustin says, mumbling the last part as he nervously looks around, checking for any lights on in near by lake houses.

They all shrug Dustin off.

“So, doing this so you can say you’ve done it to impress a certain someone, William?” Lucas asks, turning back to Will as he blushes bright red.
“No!”

“Friends don’t lie,” El says, smirking at Will, whose blush worsens.

“Shut up, El.”

Both girls ‘ohhh’, Max grinning, “Hit a nerve, did she Will?”

“You two are insufferable,” Will huffs.

“Come on, leave love sick will alone,” Mike says, earning a glare from Will, “Let’s go swimming or something.”

Max gives him a disgusted look, “Micheal, I tolerate you, but I don’t wish to witness that.”

“Ditto, gingersnap, get your mind out of the gutter!”

“What gutter?” El asks, glancing between Mike and Max.

Both freeze, glancing at each other with the same expression of ‘oh shit’.
“Uhhh…”

“Max was insinuating that Mike said we should go skinny dipping, El,” Lucas says.

El scrunches her nose up, “Oh. Ew.”

“You know what that is?” Dustin asks, raising an eyebrow as he hands her another skippable rock he’d found.

“Argyle and Jonathan got caught out here by Dad last weekend.”

“Hop still hasn’t let them live it down,” Will adds as the group laughs, Max and Lucas so badly they’re crying.

“Does Nancy know?” Max manages, nearly tumbling backward off the log she’s claimed. 

“Mom told her,” Will says with a smirk, “She’s just as bad as Hop, honestly.” 

Dustin wipes a stray tear before walking out to the edge of the water to throw another rock he’d found.

“So, how’re you handling the whole Wayne and your mom thing?” Max asks, toeing through the sand at her feet to look for more rocks to hand off to Dustin and El.

Dustin chucks a rock, it landing a few feet out with a plunk as he turns back to the group.
“He makes her happy, so, it’s fine.”

Max and Mike glance at each other before looking back at Dustin.
“You sure, Dust?” Mike asks.

"I said it's fine!” He snaps, picking up a rock at random to throw.

“We kind of overheard Wayne talking to Eddie the other day,” Max says, “They think you hate Wayne and Claudia dating.”

“Well, maybe I do!” Dustin grumbles, tossing another rock in the lake.

“Why?” El asks, picking up her own rock to join Dustin with at the water, “Wayne is nice, right?”

“No, that’s -” Dustin sighs, “He is. Mom just doesn’t date. Like, ever .”

Max slips her shoes and socks off to wade into the water by El and Dustin after handing her glasses off to Lucas to be sat on someones backpack.
“Does it help to know Wayne hasn’t dated since he took Eddie in, and he’s, like, super nervous?”

Dustin stops chunking rocks in, turning the one in his hand over as he thinks.
“Yeah, kinda.”

“They really want you to be okay with it,” Max continues, “He told Eddie they’re talking about ending it because you aren’t taking it very well.”

“What?” Dustin nearly drops the rock he's holding, fumbling to keep his grip on it.

“Well, I mean…”

“Dude, you’ve barely said two words to Wayne since the fair,” Mike interjects.

“And that was like, two almost three weeks ago,” Lucas adds.

Dustin stays quiet for a second before throwing the rock in his hand, actually skipping this one.
“How’d you deal with your mom dating, Max?”

Max slowly turns in the water to look at him, clearly confused as she mouths ‘mom?’.
“Oh, Susan? I don’t really remember, I was pretty young when she started dating again. I mean, I was like, ten, when she married Neil.”

“Guess it could be worse,” Dustin mumbles, “I could end up with a step brother like Billy.”

Max rolls her eyes, before slowly pulling her mouth into a grin.
“No! Eddie would be your brother, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so?”

“So, Steve would be your brother in law, right?”

“Yeah, in a way, I guess,” Dustin says slowly, eyeing Max like he knows she’s hatching another plan to get them all in trouble.

“So, I’d be your niece!”

Dustin stares at her for a hot second before shaking his head, “No.”

“Think about it!”

“Nope!”

“Awe, come on Uncle Dustin!”

He gags comedically loud, “Nope, not happening! Ever! Lucas, control your girlfriend!”

“Wish I could man,” Lucas shrugs, getting off the log to wade into the water with Max.

“Fine, be that way, Uncle Dustin,” Max rolls her eyes, wading further into the water, pulling Lucas with her as Dustin looks torn between being mad and disgusted at that thought.

Lucas follows, only to scoop her up and dunk them both when they’ve gotten far enough out. Max comes up sputtering, before promptly trying to push Lucas back under the water while she laughs. 

It doesn’t take much convincing to get the other four to wade out to the waist deep water with them, laughing and splashing each other in the hopes Rick or his neighbors weren’t light sleepers. 

After finally being dragged out of the water by a waterlogged El, they bike back into town to play a game of avoid running into Hopper as he makes his five am rounds while they ride around aimlessly before dropping the girls back off by Steve’s.

“Let us know when you get back to Dustin’s!” Max says, climbing off the back of Lucas’ bike.

“Yeah, radio us when you get in side.”

“We will, we left a door open so we didn’t have to climb the tree outside my window.”

“Oh for fucks sake, kiss so we can leave before we all get caught!” Mike huffs, making Will and Dustin laugh.

“Please, just get your PDA over with before Hopper decides to drive by,” Dustin adds with an eye roll.

Max flips them off before she pecks Lucas on the cheek, running after El up to the back yard to hop the fence again.

The guys head back off to Dustin’s, the girls making into Max’s room just as Eddie stumbles down the hall on his way outside for a morning smoke.

Max checks her clock, just after six am. 

“We smell like a lake, don’t we?”

Max nods, “We smell like Lake and outside.”

El wrinkles her nose, “Gross…”

—

Steve peaks in Max’s room, half expecting it to be empty.
However, both girls are passed out on the bed, a magazine open between them and a tape played out in the stereo.

He quietly shuts the door back, heading down stairs to leave a note that he and Eddie went to go get Robs from the dorms.

“Ready?”

“Yep, girls are still passed out.”

“Wayne’ll come check on them when he gets up, he’s off today.”

Steve shrugs, following Eddie out of the house, “They’ll be fine until we get back, at their age I was practically living alone.”

“I mean, so was I…”

They exchange nervous glances until four bikes are dropped on the lawn.

“Mom kicked us out when she got home. You have cereal right?” Dustin asks, not waiting for an answer before opening the door and heading inside as the others follow.

“Henderson!”
He stops to look over his shoulder at Eddie.
“Max may or may not still be asleep, do with that information what you will.”

Dustin gives them a grin before dashing up the stairs.

“Wait!” Steve hisses, “Let us leave first, shit!”

“Dustin, leave her alone!” Lucas says, rushing up the stairs after him.

“So, cereal?” Mike asks Will, already heading to the kitchen, set to ignore the murders fixing to take place when Dustin wakes Max up before noon.

“I want that chocolate kind Eddie gets,” Will states, following Mike.

As soon as they hear Steve’s car leave, the group heads upstairs, all piling on Max’s bed trying, and failing, not to wake the girls up.

“The fuck?” Max slurs out, squinting to see what's going on.

“Mom kicked us out so we came here. Steve knows we’re here.”

“Oh,” Max mumbles, tossing the magazine she’d fallen asleep reading while waiting on El to shower off the smell of Lake onto the floor, “Group nap time, get comfy.”

Will and Dustin are out before she can finish her sentence, both curled up towards the foot of her bed using stuffed animals as pillows while Mike and Lucas do their best to snuggle up around the girls without falling in the floor. 

—

Eddie happily reads off road signs as Steve drives, even though they’ve taken the same route before. Once to drop Robin off at her dorm, and another to visit without the kids the following weekend. 

“What time do you think the girls passed out last night?”

“What time’d the sun come up?” Steve asks, smiling, “They fell asleep reading a magazine I think.”

"I thought I heard them up when I went to go smoke," Eddie offers his hand, Steve happily taking it.

“It’s kinda nice to see the kids being normal,” Eddie comments after a bit, “Like, I kinda expected vecna to reappear after we got back from Cali.”

“So did I,” Steve quietly admits, “They get to be kids now. They deserve it, especially El.”

“Especially El,” Eddie agrees, “Oh, next exit baby.”

Steve takes the exit, turning onto the road heading to Robin’s dorm.

“Did you know that she’d never ridden carnival rides?” Eddie asks, clearly appalled, “Gare rode like, four with her after the kids got bored.”

“Never seen fireworks either.”

Eddie huffs, shaking his head as he stares out of the window.

“Eds, I don’t think she’d gone hiking before our trip.”

After a second of silence, and Steve making another turn towards the dorms, Eddie lets out an annoyed sigh.
“That’s bullshit. She should’ve gotten to be a kid.”

“Well, she does now,” Steve mumbles, rubbing comforting circles on Eddie’s hand with his thumb, “Between us, Hopper, and Max she’ll be all caught up soon.”

Eddie continues to stare out of the window, barely acknowledging what Steve’s said beside lightly squeezing his hand.

They pull up to the dorms, Robin climbing into the backseat before they’d even fully stopped.
“Oh thank god ! I cannot wait to be home, surrounded by the idiots I actually like!”

“I feel so loved, Robs.”

“Steven, you are, but where is my niece?”

“Max?” Steve asks, looking at Robin in the rear view, “Probably burying Dustin’s body for waking her up right this second.”

“Rightfully so,” Robin nods, making Steve laugh as he pulls away from the dorms.

Steve and Robin fall into light chitter chatter about the dorms, her roommate who she can’t stand, and her fall classes since her mini session classes she'd enrolled in for the last of July had ended.

“Oh! But I’m super excited for my English class. One of the girls I met from the dorms said the professor is really nice.”

“Oh?” Steve says, “One of the girls you met, huh?”

Robin blushes, avoiding eye contact.
“Not like that," She mumbles, staring out of the car window.

“Oh, it so is!” Eddie says, turning in his seat to see Robin better.

“Shut up,” Robin says weakly, making Steve and Eddie laugh.

“She ever been to the zoo?” Eddie suddenly asks, turning back to Steve as Robin gives him the most confused look he’d ever seen. “El, I mean. Conversation before we got you.”

Steve shrugs, “Joyce might’ve taken her to one in California, but I doubt it.”

Eddie scoffs, shaking his head again.

“That child should have the world and get to do whatever she wants!” Robin says, getting a nod of agreement from Eddie. 

“Great,” Steve sighs, “Now I have two of you.”

“Is that a problem, Steven?” Robin asks, tone full of sass and stubbornness. 

“Yeah, I barely have the energy for you.”

—

Mike makes the mistake of wandering into the living room after he’d woken up. Max and El have nail polish scattered all over the coffee table, smiling a bit too much for Mike’s likings. 

“Mike!”

“Whatever is it, no.”

“But…” El pouts her bottom lip out, holding up the black polish, “I bought black so you’d let me.”

“I’m not painting my nails, Babe.”

“Eddie lets me paint his,” Max chimes in, already picking out the color she’s planning on ambushing Lucas with.

“He does not.”

“He does too!” Max insists, “Swear!”

El pouts her lip out further, “Please?”

“One time!” Mike huffs, “This is it, hear me?”

El squeals, jumping up to throw her arms around Mike as she giggles.

He sighs, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she smiles bigger, “Black is the only color you get to use.”

“‘Kay!”

“Lucas!” Max leans over the arm of the couch to yell, “Micheal said yes so you’re officially on my shit list!”

“It’s not happening, babe!”

“Not even clear?”

“Absolutely not! Erica would bully me!”

Max and Mike exchange slightly confused looks.
“Dude, she’s gonna bully you anyway,” Mike yells.

“Exactly! So why speed up the process?”

“He has a point,” Mike whispers to Max. She rolls her eyes, mumbling out ‘fine’. 

Max settles into the couch as El and Mike sit in the floor, El carefully painting Mike’s nails black as he watches her, trying to keep from smiling and failing.

El finishes one hand, instructing him to not to touch anything while she does the other.

“If you mess it up, she’ll murder you.”

“I’ve gathered as much.”

“I’ll help.”

Mike lolls his head over to look at Max, “I’m sure you’d plan it, Red.”

“It’s already planned, what are you talking about? I’m just waiting for an excuse.”

Mike rolls his eyes, throwing her one of his signature 'you disgust me' scowls.

Steve opens the door, pausing to look at Mike and El for a second before pointing at them, "What?"

“My girlfriend pouted.”

Eddie glances in the living room, solemnly nodding.
“That’s how I got tricked into mowing the lawn last week.”

Steve raises an eyebrow at Eddie as he turns around, “Really, Eds? I mentioned how much I hated mowing, and that I was planning on doing it the next day after work. To Max. I didn’t even know you were home!”

“It earned me boyfriend points,” Eddie shrugs, heading into the laundry room to dump off one of Robin’s bags, yelling down the hall, “It was worth it.”

“Steve got to see your ass in his old gym shorts, he thought it was worth it too,” Max quips from the couch, holding up two colors to choose from for herself, “I however, was scarred for life. Steve drooled over said shorts.”

“I did not drool, Maxine!”

Max sassily cocks an eyebrow up, “Uh huh, right. Green or blue?”

Eddie leans over the couch behind Max, “Yeah, you did babe. Oh, Blue.” 

Robin walks in, dropping her other bags in the entryway before stepping around Steve, “What did Dingus do now?”

Max and El both squeal, jumping up to attack Robin in a hug as Mike carefully sits the nail polish El shoved at him down. “Hi Aunt Robs.”

“Hey baby wheels. Oh, black? Very nice,” Robin nods her approval, squeezing Max and El back before playfully shoving them away from her. “I gotta pee, long car ride, hold on!”

“You have a bladder the size of a toddler,” Steve calls after her, Robin simply flipping him off. 

El settles back in the floor by Mike, carefully finishing his other hand as Max starts painting her own with the blue.

Robin ends up letting Max paint her nails, using it as an excuse to make Steve lugs her bag upstairs.

“Nance coming back this weekend?”

Mike shrugs, watching El fan his hands to dry the polish faster, “Don’t talk to her much. When she calls my house, mom talks to her. When she calls her house, Jon and Arg talk to her. She told mom she wasn’t, told Arg she was. At this point, I just act like I know what's going on.”

“Same, baby wheels, same,” Robin mumbles, “So! What have you guys been up to?”

Mike, Max and El all glance at each other, giggling.
“Nothing!”

“Suspicious.”

“We’ve been perfect angels!” Mike insists, Robin narrowing her eyes at him as she scoffs.

“We have!” El says, a smile puling at the corners of her mouth, “Haven’t been meddling in Will’s love life or nothing.”

Robin tries to stop from smiling, clearing her throat, “Oh? How is that going, by the way?”

All three groan in annoyance before launching into the story, talking over each other and complaining how they’re worse than Steve and Eddie.

Chapter Text

“Do you think we got away with it?” Dustin asks, again, since Eddie had left to pick up Gareth for work while Steve and Robin left to go annoy Jonathan and Argyle.

“No, Dustin,” Max finally snaps, “They’re playing the long haul to get us to tattle on ourselves!”

“Really?”

"No!" Max yells.
El looks up from painting Max’s toes, giving Dustin her best version of an unimpressed Erica expression, “Next time, you are not invited.”

“Next time?” Dustin hisses, “What do you mean next time? We did it so we can say we did it, we aren’t doing it again!”

The group collectively roll their eyes at him.

“It was fun, Dusty, just relax,” Lucas says, digging through Steve’s tape collection.

Someone knocks on the door, making them all jump, El cursing at the fact she messed up.
Dustin heads to the door, grumbling ‘ how can I relax when we’re criminals! ’.

He swings the door open to Wayne.
“Uh, Eddie isn’t here.”

“Oh, shit,” Wayne awkwardly laughs, “Must’ve gotten schedules messed up, Dustin.”

“Come in, uncle Wayne!” Max yells, “We’re in the living room! Ignore our new door gremlin!”

Dustin moves, letting Wayne into the house.

“Painting nails?” Wayne asks, leaning over to inspect Max’s fresh blue nails, “Reminds me of Eddie’s room when he was a teenager. Polish and acetone,” he grimaces as the girls laugh.

“Told you dad paints his nails, Mike.”

Lucas looks up, confused, “I’ve literally never seen him with painted nails.”

“Boyfriend ain’t too observant, is he red?”

“Good thing he’s cute, right?” Max snorts, getting a laugh out of Wayne and a more confused look from Lucas.

“What’d you come over for, uncle Wayne?” Mike asks, yawning as stretches out on the couch, subsequently taking Dustin’s seat.

“Oh, I came over to bug Ed. The hell you so tired for, junior?”

Dustin’s eyes go wide behind Wayne as Mike shrugs, “Sleep over at Dustin’s last night.”

Wayne nods, ‘ohhh-ing’. “That’s right, Cee mentioned it the other day. Girls stayed here, right?”

Max nods, yawning before she glares at Mike. “ 'Cept Erica, she’s too cool to hang out with us.”

“Not a one of you slept, did ya?”

“I napped after Claudia kicked us to the curb and we came over here,” Mike mumbles, throwing an arm over his eyes. 

Dustin’s eyes go comically wider, thinking Wayne for sure saw them riding around at five am this morning somehow and is going to tell his mom.
None of the other kids react, barely looking up from what they're doing.

“Ed used to do that,” Wayne snorts out a laugh, “Him and Gare would still be up when I got home from work, grumpy all day from no sleep.”

“Gare still goes that,” Max yawns again, “We stayed up all night watching movies last weekend and he bitched the whole next day.”

Wayne shakes his head, laughing.
“Go take another nap, you're making me tired and I just woke up. I’ll go bug Ed at work.”

The kids chorus ‘bye uncle Wayne!’ as he makes his way back out of the house, leaving Dustin to wonder how the hell no one else is freaking out.

“How are you guys so calm?” he finally asks, making his way back to the couch to push Mike’s legs off and out of his spot.

‘Asshole’ Mike mumbles, as Max shrugs, “We’re cooler than you.”

Dustin cocks an eyebrow up, “You have glasses thicker than most nerds, Maxine, you are not cool.”

Mike kicks him off the couch, stretching back out as Dustin yelps.
“Foureyes ‘s still cooler than you, Dustybuns,” Mike mumbles out, half asleep.

—

Steve gets suckered into helping Jonathan hang things the second they step foot in the apartment while Robin, Argyle and Nancy, who had just gotten home for her first visit from college, hang around the kitchen and watch while they catch up.
The trio had gotten an apartment together downtown, not too far from everyone, and all of the kids had keys just like at Steve’s, coming and going whenever they please.
Apparently the guys had been content to just leave the walls bare until Nancy came back, forcing them to decorate.

Robin tilts her head as she watches Jon and Steve try to hang a picture. “Guys, is that straight?”

Nancy and Argyle copy her, squinting.

“How would we know? You asked the two bi’s to hang the fucker!” Jon snaps, as Steve just laughs.

Robin looks taken back for a second before laughing to herself. Nancy straightens her head, studying it for a second.
“No, definitely not straight.”

“Wait,” Steve asks, looking over his shoulder at the three onlookers, “Us or the picture?”

“All of the above,” Nancy chuckles, “It’s less straight than you are.”

“Ouch,” Steve whispers, making Jon laugh again as he drops his side a little, “Nance?”

“Now it’s straight!”

“Poor thing,” Argyle mumbles, making Robin burst into giggles as Nancy tries to suppress her giggles as she hangs her head. 

Jon shoots Argyle an eye roll as they hang the picture before making their way over to the other three.

“So, how’d your parents take you moving in with two guys?” Robin asks, her giggles finally subsiding.

“About as well as yours did, I presume,” Nancy scoffs, “Considerably less well than Joyce and Hopper did.”

Steve raises an eyebrow, “What’d they have to say?”

“Hopper walked in, looked at the second bedroom and said, I quote ‘you have an extra room I can ship your siblings off to’,” Jonathan says, a blush crawling up his neck.

Robin snorts her ill-timed drink out her nose, wheezing, “Oh my god!”

Nancy tries to suppress a grin as she leans against Jon, “Joyce called me at college last weekend-”
“Oh my god, please don't, ” Jonathan cuts her off, hiding his face in his hands.
“- Because Hop caught these two at lovers lake and thought I’d get a kick out of it,” Nancy finishes with a giggle, Argyle as bright red as Jon.

Robin and Steve both burst out laughing with Nancy as the other two glare at them.

“Dude, it’s not funny!”

“Oh, babe, it so is,” Nancy says through giggles, eyes settlings on another box in the corner.

Steve checks his watch, “Crap, I gotta run by family video and pick up my keys before Keith leaves. Want me to pick you up later, Robs?”

“Nah, I’ll go torment Keith some since he’s off this weekend,” Robin shrugs, heading to the door as they bid goodbye to the trio. 

“Holy shit, Steve, you got the promotion?” Nancy asks.

Steve turns to give them a grin, “Official as of this morning!”

“Sunday night before I have to head back, drinks at your place to celebrate?” Nancy calls as they head out, Steve yelling ‘Yeah, sure’ as he closes the door and follows Robin down the stairs.

“Are we really going to family video, or were you just scared Nancy had another job for you?”

“I saw her brain trying to think of something else for me to do,” Steve admits, making Robin laugh as he pulls out of the parking spot, “And I got my keys yesterday, but we can go see Eds.”

“So, how’re you and Ed?” Robin asks, grinning as she props her feet on the dash, Steve smacking at her legs furiously.

“Jesus, you’re worse than Max is! Seriously, Robbie?”

She slides her feet to the floor with a huff, “Fine.”

“I send you to college for three weeks and you forget all car etiquette!” Steve grumbles, “We’re great, by the way.”

“Good, I’d hate to dig a grave this weekend, I’m a busy woman.”

Steve snorts out a laugh as he pulls into the record store lot, “Keep that mentality when you meet Mark tomorrow.”

“Mark? Is that the one we hate?” Robin asks, getting out of the car. 

“That is the one we hate,” Steve confirms, heading inside as Robin trails after him with a simple ‘okay!’

—

“Today’s friday, right?” Dustin asks, sprawled out on the floor after losing the battle over the couch cushion with Mike.

“Last time I checked,” Max mumbles, painting Lucas’ fingernails while he naps after boredom had set in. “Why?”

Dustin shrugs, sitting up enough to look at the green polish Max picked.
“Matches his jersey.”

Max turns to give him a wicked grin, making Dustin huff out a laugh.
“Why he puts up with you I’ll never know.”

Max shrugs, finishing her artwork on one hand and maneuvering to paint the other without waking him up. 

“Ignoring the fact Lucas is getting a manicure,” Dustin pauses for a second as Max shushes him, “Are we still doing our regularly scheduled movie night or are we too tired?”

Max shrugs, “I’d be up for movie night with aunt Robs.”

“Do they open tomorrow?” Will looks up from his book.

“Eh, at nine. It’ll be fine. Let me finish this and I’ll call and check with Ed at work.”

“Invite Gare,” Mike mumbles, “I’m sure Robs would love to witness the awkward flirting that is him and Will.”

“We do not awkward flirt!” Will yells, leaning over to smack Mike with his book.

Dustin, Mike, and Max all turn to give him varying degrees of the ‘are you shitting me’ expression.
“Whatever you say, William, whatever you say,” Mike finally says, tumbling off the couch to head to the kitchen.

“We don’t!”

“What do you do then?” Lucas mumbles, cracking an eye open to look at Max, “Green, really babe?”

Max shrugs as Will huffs in annoyance, flipping his book back open to continue reading.

Dustin snorts out a laugh, mumbling ‘Sure, will’.

“Let’s go annoy Eddie at work," Mike yells from the kitchen, digging through the cabinets for something to snack on, "I'm bored."

“Instead of calling him?” Max asks as Mike walks back into the room, shrugging.

“Gare is supposed to be holding a newer release for me anyway, two birds one stone.”

“What new release? Ozzy?” Max raises an eyebrow, “Thought Gare was holding that for Jane.”

“He is,” Mike says slowly, “But, that isn’t what I’m talking about, that one came out in like February, they just don’t get very many copies of it.”

“What are you talking about? That one you guys were talking about doesn’t come out until tomorrow, uh, Motorhead right?”

“ Motorhead ?” Max yells, recapping the polish to sit it on the table, “The one that gets delivered tomorrow and Gareth told me he couldn’t hold it ?”

Mike grins, backing away further into the kitchen, “Same one, guess he likes me better!”

“You asshole!” Max yells, jumping off the couch to chase him into the back yard as El watches from the table. 

She leans over to watch Max try, and fail, to throw Mike in the pool before he gets away from her, running further into the yard.
“Well, they’ll be done in a minute, I’m going to get my shoes.”

“Janie, will you get mine too?” Lucas yells as El heads upstairs.

“Sure.”

Will look out a window facing the back yard, just to see Mike cackling as Max punches his arm. 

“Over a cassette tape?”

Lucas turns to look out of the window, “It’s motorhead, I’m pretty sure that’s a murderous offense in this household.”

“It is,” El confirms, handing Lucas his shoes before putting on her own and heading to the back yard.

“Idiots, we are going to leave you here!”

Both Mike and Max immediately stop to head back inside, “Coming El!”

Will cuts his eyes to Lucas who shrugs.
“We don’t question it anymore man.”

The group makes their way outside, Max and Mike still shoving each other around, as they get on the bikes and head towards downtown. 

“We should make a stop at family video on the way back,” Lucas says, “For tonight.”

“But Steve’s not working, we’ll have to pay full price!” Mike whines, “I don’t have the cash for that!”

“Neither do it,” Max sighs, “Maybe Gare will let us use the shops phone to get ahold of mom and aunt Robs?”

“You two were just talking about buying tapes!”

“Well, yeah,” Mike shrugs the best he can, “I don’t have tape money and movie money. I had to steal change from my dad to get the tapes!”

“Tape,” El corrects, “I have my own money for mine.”

They ignore one of Lucas’ teammates yelling at them as they ride past, turning on a different street to get to the shop.

“How’s basketball gonna go this year?” Mike asks, looking over his shoulder to check behind them.

“Probably about as well as expected,” Lucas scoffs, “I have a team meeting thing tomorrow, so we’ll see.”

“When are games again?”

“Friday nights,” Max answers before Lucas can, “So, after what, october? I won’t be at the nerd meetings.”

“You are joining hellfire?” Will asks skeptically, “You, Max, are gonna play DnD with us? Every week?”

“We are going to make fun of you,” El says matter of factly as she gets off Mike’s bike, heading to into the shop.

“Pretty much,” Max shrugs, following after her.

“Why are they such asses?” Dustin mumbles.

“That’s your niece and her friend, Dustin,” Will says, laughing as he dodges Dustin’s hand as he tries to smack him.

“She is not my niece, Byers!”

“Boys,” El and Max mumble as they let the door shut, heading to the rock section as Will and Dustin start squabbling on the sidewalk while Lucas and Mike watched, rather amused.

“Hey welco- Oh, hey guys,” Gareth says, dropping his customer service voice half way through, “Janie, I got yours up here.”

“There’s one more thing I wanted to look at!”

Gareth nods, turning back to Eddie, Steve and Robin, “Cool, let me know if you guys need help.”

“Hosting Movie night again?” Gareth asks, leaning back against the counter.

Steve shrugs, “No one’s said anything, but at this point they don’t even ask.”

“That’s not true,” Eddie chuckles, “They ask me every once in a while.”

“When’s the last time that happened?”

Eddie pauses for a second before shrugging, “Uh, the weekend after the fourth?”

“That was almost a month ago,” Robin points out, holding back laughter.

“My point exactly,” Steve chuckles. 

“You know what? I don’t keep track, I just assume they all live there now.”

“Gare! We need to use the phone to - Oh, Steve!” Mike says, making his way to the counter, Max making her way over from the rock section, “Can you guys go to family video for us? We’re gonna crash at your place but don’t have full price rental money.”

“Yet you guys are here, at the record shop, shopping?” Steve asks, slightly amused.

“We’d have music money and movie money if you let me get a job!” Max states, Mike wildy nodding along beside her.

“She has a point!”

“Max -”  Steve sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I’ll meet you guys there when you’re done here.”

Max sighs, “Whatever.”
Her and Mike both head back to El as she holds up a tape triumphantly stating ‘found it!’.

Steve raises his arms mumbling ‘what was that’, confused, as he turns back to the other adults.

“Steve-o, may I?” Gareth halfway asks, getting a confused nod from Steve.
“Max was raised like me, and Robs, and Ed,” He doesn’t wait for a response before continuing, “We all had to get jobs if we wanted stuff, Max hates asking you guys for money.”

“But -”

“She’s a smart kid,” Gareth barrels on, “A part time job isn’t gonna make her grades drop. I’ve worked since I was fourteen and still have a 4.0, even with killin’ brain cells with this idiot on the regular,” He jerks a thumb over his shoulder at Eddie as he squawks out a ‘hey’.

“Pothead does have a point,” Robin shrugs, getting an eye roll from Gareth, “Family video still has some positions open, right? She can do what I did, homework between rushes.”

“Do both of you have to have logical arguements?”

Robin and Gareth look at each other before looking back at Steve, “Yes.”

Steve glances back at the rock section, Mike and Max crowding around El to look at the tape she’s holding, quietly discussing the fact Ted told Mike to either get a job or he was cutting his allowance. What kind of sense that makes is lost on Steve, but most of what Ted Wheeler does doesn't make sense, so whatever.

“I’ll think about it,” Steve finally says, “But if it’s a bad idea, I’m blaming you three.”

“ Three ? I haven’t said shit!” Eddie squawks.

Steve crosses his arms as he raises an eyebrow at Eddie.

“This is bullying, Harrington! Bullying ! Keep it up and I’ll… I’ll..”
Steve smirks, motioning for him to continue.
Eddie lightly pounds his fist on the counter top for a second, staring Steve down while he thinks.
“Sleep on the couch for a week!”

Robin and Gareth both burst out in uncontrollable laughter as Steve nods.
“Right, you do that, Eds.”

“I will! One week, on the couch!”

Gareth pats Eddie’s back, “Sure, Ed, like you two would last a full night before one of you broke.”

Eddie glares at Gareth as Robin voices her agreement through her laughter.

El makes her way up to the counter, pushing a Joan Jett album to the register as Gareth reaches under it to drop the Ozzy tape next to it as Eddie switches Gareth places to ring her up.

“Oh, Mike, guess what came in today?”

Mike shrugs, looking at him weirdly, “What? I thought the metallica tape you’re holding for me came in a few months ago?”

Gareth grins as he drops Master of Puppets and the new Motorhead tape on the counter.
“Boss isn’t here, so just give me the cash for it and I’ll ring it out tomorrow.”

“You hold it for Micheal but not me?” Max scoffs, “I can’t believe this!”

“Holy shit!” Mike nearly yells.
“Language,” Eddie and Steve both monotonically say, getting a weird look from Robin and El, who glance at each other and bust out in giggles.
“Can you even do that?”

Gareth shrugs, ignoring Max, “What’re they gonna do? Fire me? I’m one of the few people who can work with Ed and not kill him, and has knowledge about you guys’ favorite section.”

Mike digs in his pockets for a ten dollar bill and enough change to make up the difference needed after the discount, shoving it at Gareth, “I’ll get the Metallica later, I didn’t bring my other money with me.”

Gareth shrugs, writing a note and sticking the money in the drawer, “I can hold puppets another week before people start looking for it.”

Gareth finally turns to Max, digging under the counter to pull out the new Ratt album.
“This came in early too.”
Max goes to grab it as Gareth pulls it back out of her reach, “Ah ah ah! What’s the rule, Red?”
Max huffs, crossing her arms as she glares at him.
“I know you know it, Maxine, what is it?”
Max huffs again, rolling her eyes, grumbling along with Gareth.
“Only one new hold per month.”

Robin and Steve both hide smirks behind their hands, Eddie on the other hand snickers openly as he hands El her change.

“Now, choose wisely , shitbird,” Gareth continues, holding the tape back where it was, “Either you can buy this one now, which I would because I was only able to talk the bossman into ordering three , or you can buy the motorhead tape, which we got a whole case of. Up to you.”

Mike flickers his eyes between Max and Gareth as Max continues to stare at him, chewing her lip.

“Ratt. I want that one.”

Gareth hands it over, holding his hand out for the money, “Thank god, Barry said he wasn’t gonna let me suggest anything else if these don’t sell.”

Max laughs, digging out her crumpled money to hand to Gareth.
“Thanks Gare.”

He shrugs, writing another note to put in the drawer with the money, “You two assholes better be glad I’m opening tomorrow.”

“We are,” They both say, already trading cassettes to look at the cover art and songs, pointing out the singles they’d already heard making Gareth roll his eyes.

“Gare, can you hold a tape for me when it comes in if you get any?” El asks, pocketing her two tapes as she looks over Max’s shoulder at the motorhead tape she’s holding.

“What am I gonna be on the lookout for, Ellie?”

“The new Bon Jovi, it comes out next week I think?”

Eddie grimaces, walking back to the other end of the counter to Steve and Robin as he fake gags, Robin rolling her eyes as Steve scoffs.
"Eds don't even, you were listening to Max's Bon Jovi album the other day."

"Lies, Harrington, Lies!"

Steve rolls his eyes as Robin laughs.
"Eddie, it was playing when I called Steve and Max wasn’t home."

“We’re getting some,” Gareth states, not so discreetly checking some shipping paperwork, before cutting his eyes to Eddie and smirking. “Remind me next week and I’ll hide one when we get them. Finally got caught did you, Munson?”

“Stop spoiling my children, Emerson,” Steve chuckles, “They don’t need special treatment.”

”You shush, Emerson!” Eddie grumbles.

“No, I do what I want,” Gareth mumbles, reaching over El to take tapes from Will, looking at them before raising an eyebrow, "The cramps?"

Will shrugs, ducking his head to avoid eye contact while he digs his money out.

”Any good? I haven’t listened to a lot of their stuff.”

”Uh,” Will shrugs again, “Yeah, they’re pretty good.”

Steve leans over to stage whisper to Robin. 
“We weren’t that bad, right?”

Gareth and Will both blush bright red.

”Oh, babes, you were both that bad,” Robin says, in the loudest voice she can without actually yelling. 
The guys get redder, making Eddie escape to the sales floor to avoid laughing near them.

Steve rolls his eyes, pushing off the counter he’s leaning on, “Whatever. Guess I’m gonna go let the shitheads rent movies.”

“Oh, get the day of the dead!”

Steve turns to look at Eddie like he’d lost his mind.
“I’ll think about it, babe. See you at home.”

Robin waves bye as she follows Steve out giggling.

"So, Byers," Gareth says, ringing up his cassettes, Eddie wanders back over since Robin and her mouth is gone. He notices he's discounting the cassettes down to the price they pay, less than he charges Mike and Max, smirking.
"You comin' tonight?"

"To Steve's?" Will clarifies, "Yeah, I guess. Why?"

Gareth shrugs, Mike and Max hiding smirks as they turn to head out of the store with El and Lucas.
"Just wondering. Twelve even."

Mike and Max whirl around to stare down Gareth as Will glances up, confused, "Twelve? You got both of them, right?"

Gareth shrugs again, "Yeah, why?"

Outside, Steve side steps the kids' bikes, heading to the beemer, only half listening to Robin. 

“They’ve seen day of the dead in theaters, when we worked at starcourt. Remember?” Robin asks, following Steve to the car.

“They have not!”

“You snuck them in, Steven!”

Steve pauses at the car, hand on the door handle as he stares at Robin, “I never let them into any scary movies.”

Robin laughs harder, opening her door to climb in, “Sure, Stevie, sure!”

Steve opens his own door, mumbling to himself, “I did not help the twerps see a horror movie.”

The kids pile out of the store shortly after, climbing on bikes and arguing about which movies they’re getting as Steve follows them to family video.
Absentmindedly trying to remember if he had snuck them into see any horror movies.
He doesn't remember, so he decides to just go with no, he had not, thank you very much.

As soon as they walk in, the kids scatter to collect the predetermined movies while Robin heads to the counter with Steve to wait.
“This your girlfriend?” Mark asks, eyeing Robin strangely as Keith snorts out something close to a laugh behind him.

“She’s my sister, Mark.”

“Sister?” Mark repeats, glancing between them with a confused look, “I didn’t know the Harrington’s had more than one kid?”

“They didn’t,” Steve states, heading behind the counter, leaving Mark more confused as he takes a stack of movies to put up, mumbling to himself too low for Steve and Robin to catch while Keith cackles.

“You work this weekend, right Buckley?”

“Saturday for sure, why? Need me sunday?”

Keith shrugs, “Remember the new chick I hired right before the fourth?”

Robin narrows her eyes, slowly nodding as she thinks. Steve knows she remembers who she is, but isn’t sure if she actually knows her name. They hadn’t really gotten along, and the chick Claria, always called Robin ‘Dove’.
“Oh, yeah! Carrie, right?”

Steve chokes on his own spit trying not to laugh, as Keith nods.
“Close enough, yeah, her. I took her off the schedule after one too many call outs.”

Steve mouths ‘close enough?’ to himself as he digs through papers under the counter, shaking his head.

“Oh, yeah, I can work Sunday then,” Robin says, leaning to the side to check on Steve, whose still lightly choke-laughing. 

“Harrington, what the hell are you doing?”

Steve triumphantly holds up applications, “Looking for these.”

Keith raises an eyebrow, ultimately staying quiet.

“I hire people now, right?”

Keith slowly nods, “Right. But if your shitheads wreck anything I’m blaming you.”

Steve shrugs, “Fair.”

Steve cups his hands around his mouth to yell throughout the store, making Keith grimace before it happens.

“Terror twins!”

Max and Mike both yell ‘coming!’ from different sides of the store while Keith turns to look at Robin as if to say ‘what the fuck’ as she just shrugs.
"Don't question it, Keith, no one knows."

Steve holds out an application to each of them, “You two are the only ones I’m even considering letting apply , understand?”

“You’re gonna let us work here?” Max asks, all too excited as she takes her application.

“I said apply, Mayfield. Fill those out and I’ll file the paperwork in the morning when I open.”

Max shrieks, bouncing on her toes as Mike just grins.

“Under some conditions,” Steve continues, getting the attention of both kids, “Your grades have to stay up.”
They both nod along.
“And you’re only gonna work weekends and one week night, maybe, for now, okay?”

“Okay!” They both parrot back, grinning.

Steve sighs, “One horror movie. Go.”

Max shrieks out giggles as they turn to rush to Lucas and El on the horror aisle. 

“You do realize that after you hire them they won’t need permission to get those anymore, right?”

“Robin, don’t.”

She snorts out laughter as Keith shakes his head.

“As long as it’s not Henderson, I guess,” Keith mumbles, turning back to whatever he was doing.

—

Max and Mike had won whatever argument the kids had had on the way home, Steve still didn’t understand what it was fully but whatever.
So they were all lounging in the living room, Mike and Max both filling out the applications while Dancing undercover by Ratt, Max’s new tape, plays at a deafening volume Steve and Robin could hear all the way outside.

“Can we at least turn it down?” Will asks, making both kids look up at him like he’d lost his mind.

Lucas, who is either used to it or has given up, is unbothered as he tilts his head to look at Will, “Ratt is on the list of bands that must be blared at full volume, William.”

Max looks either smug or proud as she returns her attention to the application.
"Yep, what Lucas said."

“Get used to it, Gareth’s just as bad,” He adds with a smirk, Will blushing before he turns his attention to a book he’d snagged from Max’s room.

“I like it,” El announces.

Mike nods, not looking up from what he’s writing, “Which song’s your favorite?”

El scrunches her nose, shrugging, “I like this one.”

Max checks the cassette case, “Take a chance,” She mumbles to Mike as she finishes her application, standing to go outside.

“This one, really? I liked the first one,” Mike states, handing his off to Max as she passes by, yelling ‘thank you’ as she heads outside.

Steve cracks an eye open to look at her.

“We’re done.”

He holds his hand out to look them over, raising an eyebrow at the note she can’t work fridays.

“Lucas’ games,” She shrugs, “I promised I’d go.”

Steve suppresses a smile as he folds the papers up to stick in his pocket, “Fine by me, I guess.”

“Good,” Max yells, heading back in the house, “I wasn’t asking.”

Steve huffs out a laugh, shaking his head, “This is gonna be a pain in my ass.”

Robin cuts her eyes to him, scoffing, “Steven, you're dating Eddie, isn't that normal for you?”

Steve’s eyes go comically wide as he snaps his head towards her, “ Robin !”

She shrugs, shooting him a grin.
"What?" She asks as innocently as she can as he smacks at her arm.

The tape ends, and they both silently thank god it’s over.
Until the motorhead tape replaces it at the same volume.

They both sigh, Steve getting out of the lounge chair, “I need a beer, Robs?”

“Please.”

Steve peers into the living room, chuckling to himself as he grabs the beers at Max and El dancing in the middle of the living room, while Dustin and Will both appear to be in pain, Mike and Lucas neither one acknowledging that it's even happening.

For the next few hours, the kids shuffle through the four new tapes as Steve and Robin sit on the patio trying to ignore them.

Gareth pushes the front door open, immediately heading into the living room.
“Jesus, do you guys have that loud enough?”

“It was louder but mom got a headache,” Lucas states, lazily pointing outside to Steve on the patio.

Gareth chuckles, flopping on the couch he usually sits on.
“Do we have food yet? I forgot to bring lunch with me today.”

Max starts to offer to call Argyle, but Will beats her to it.
“You didn’t eat today? Gareth, what the hell dude? We were at the shop, we could’ve brought you something!”

Mike and Lucas cover their laughter with coughs as Dustin leans over to Max to whisper ‘since when is he the overprotective boyfriend?’ Making her join the boys in their 'coughing' fit. 

Gareth sheepishly shrugs, picking at lint on the couch as Will heads to the phone call the pizza place, per usual for their Friday nights. 
“What kind do you want?”

”The usual-“ 

“Gare?” Will cuts Max off, not even acknowledging she’d started talking.

”Oh, whatever, I’m not picky.”

Eddie leans against the doorway, biting back a smile.
“Stevie’s outside?”

Max nods, eyes not leaving Will at the phone.
“Yep, take him some tylenol. Headache wasn’t horrible, but he hasn’t taken anything.”

Eddie nods, detouring to the bathroom for the meds before heading outside.

Mike clears his throat, digging through their stack of movies, “What’s first, Red?”

“I don’t know, Wheels, you pick,” Max shrugs, leaning so far over the side of the couch to see onto the patio Lucas has to grab her to keep her from falling.

Eddie slips outside, carefully climbing into the lounge chair with Steve.
“Snaps said you hadn’t taken anything yet.”

Steve shakes his head, “Wasn’t bad enough.”

Eddie holds out a water bottle and the medicine bottle, “Wasn’t bad or didn’t want to walk that far?”

Steve shrugs as he takes the items, lazily smiling, “Maybe both.”

Eddie snorts, snaking his arms around Steve as he presses a kiss to his temple, "Yeah, that's what I thought, pretty boy."

Steve just smiles.
He tries to open the Medicine bottle before holding it out to Eddie, pouting, until he takes it from him to open it.

Max leans out the patio door, smiling apologetically at them.
“Cash for pizza?”

Eddie digs his wallet out to toss at her, “There should be enough in there.”

“If not mines on the table,” Steve says, resting his head on Eddie’s shoulder after blindly sitting the water bottle on the ground.

Max heads back inside with a ‘thanks!’, completely closing the patio door.

“Steve hired the terror twins at family video,” Robin says after a second of silence, the movie turned much lower than the music.

“No shit? That’s great, babe. Teach them some responsbility and all that good shit, right?"

Steve hums his agreement, snuggling closer to Eddie.

“You're gonna have to teach her how to drive now so she can get her license,” Robin states, “You know that, right?”

Steve huffs, mumblings ‘Absolutely not’ into Eddie’s shoulder.

“I can teach her how to drive, Stevie, she can’t be that bad.”

Steve lifts his head enough to give Eddie a look that screams ‘you sure about that’ as Robin lifts her beer to take a sip, giggling.

“Wayne taught me and didn’t die, I’m sure it’s doable, right?"

“Have at it, babe,” Steve mumbles, dropping his head back onto his shoulder, “If you think you’re brave enough, that circus is all yours.”

Eddie cuts his eyes to Robin who smirks, sipping her beer.
He makes a mental note to buy Hopper a six pack before lessons start, maybe himself one as well.

The kids settle into their self-assigned, usual spots. 
Lucas and Max in their chair, El and Mike in the other, Dustin sprawls out on one couch in the absence of Erica, while Will and Gareth sitting on opposite ends of the other couch.

"Where's loud mouth?" Gareth asks, glancing around once Dustin is at peak comfort.

"Tina's for the whole weekend," Lucas says, a little smugly, "After we planned DnD night at Dusty's, I suggested our parents let her go so they could have a kid free weekend."

"They have a kid free weekend every weekend, Lucas," Will points out, "She's over here with us or staying with Max while we're at Mike's."

"Did I say my parents had a kid free weekend? I meant I had a sister free weekend, my bad."

Gareth chuckles, "Nice, Sinclair. Don't let bossy find out or you're a dead man."

"That is a risk I was willing to take," he mumbles, stretching to drape his arm around Max's shoulders as she laughs.

Robin hangs her head over the back of the chair, "Hands off, Sinclair."

Lucas and Max both scream, making Robin and Gareth cackle as Steve and Eddie both trail in, shaking their heads.

"Dusty, off the couch," Eddie shoos him away so he and Steve can curl up on one end as Robin flops on the other end.

"The one night I don't have Erica here, these three show up."

Max settles back against Lucas, snickering.
"You and the couch just aren't meant to be, Uncle Dustin!"

Eddie shoots Max a death glare as Dustin rolls his eyes.
"Can I pull rank and take the chair then?"

Lucas and Max both laugh shaking their heads, "Absolutely not, Henderson. This chair was ours long before your mom started dating my grandpa."

Gareth stands up, heading into the kitchen, "If you're gonna whine about it just sit with us."

Dustin looks between the couch and Max before heading over to sit exactly where Gareth was, "Cool, thanks man."

Max buries her face into Lucas' shoulder to keep from laughing as Gareth walks back in the room, pausing at the sight of Dustin taking up as much room as possible and Will bright red.
Steve and Eddie stretch out to fill the middle seat of their couch before Will can get the idea to join them.

"No problem, Dustybuns," Gareth finally shrugs, heading over to take what's left of the couch, directly by Will.

Mike hits play on the remote, settling in next to El as someone knocks on the door.

"I've -" Steve starts to untangle himself from Eddie before Mike cuts him off, already climbing out of the chair.

"I've got it, dad it's fine, moneys by the door, right, Red?"

"Tip included in case it isn't Arg!" Max yells after him as the trio on the couch and Gareth all exchanged confused and slightly scared glances.

"Did Mike just call you dad?" Gareth finally asks.
"I think so?"
"Weird," Eddie and Robin both mumble, Steve mutely nodding his agreement.

The other kids aren't fazed, barely looking away from the TV.
Will finally looks at Gareth as he settles back on the couch, "What?"

He shakes his head, "Nothing, just missed a few memo's."

Will gives him a weird look before he returns his attention back to the TV as Mike walks back in to set their pizza on the coffee table, grabbing himself and El a slice before climbing back in the chair. 

"What are we watching tonight, runts?" Robin asks, helping herself to a slice as the others follow her lead.

"Fright night," Lucas answers.

"You wasted your horror movie on this?" Robin scoffs, "You're supposed to go big or go home!" 

They all shrug.
Will mumbles out a quiet, 'We haven't seen this one yet', as he shuffles forward a little to lean against Gareth prompting him to eat one handed, resting his other arm along the back of the couch above Will.

Robin cuts her eyes to Max and Mike, who both dramatically roll their eyes.
She mouths 'I see what you mean' in return as she leans back against the couch, both kids immediately nodding.

---

Steve cracks an eye open, the TVs showing snow. They'd all crashed in the living room sometime during their third or fourth movie. He can't even remember which one it was, he'd been in and out half way through the second one after his headache meds kicked in full force and Eddie started playing with his hair. 
He barely lifts his head up to check the time, almost eight. 
He sighs, slowly unwrapping Eddie's arms from around him to get up and shake Gareth's shoulder.

"Hey, Gare, you have to be at the shop at nine thirty, right?"

Gareth mumbles out an unintellgible string of curse words as he squints at he clock before carefully extracting himself from Will, where he'd falling asleep snuggled up next to him, Dustin having moved himself to the floor sometime around the third movie. 
"Yeah, if you take me to family video when you go in I can walk from there."

"Deal," Steve mumbles, turning to shake Robin awake enough to get her upstairs to get ready as she glares at everything that breathes wrong.
Mark is going to have a fantastic day if he doesn't get coffee in her before they walk in the building.

He makes his way to the kitchen, stepping over flung off blankets and a rogue couch cushion to turn the coffee pot on before heading upstairs himself to get ready.

Max barely opens her eyes before she glares at the sun peaking through the offending window, climbing out of the chair and stepping around El's mess of blankets in the floor to head in the kitchen, setting out travel mugs for Steve and Robin's coffees before she piles up the pizza boxes in one pile.

By the time Steve and Robin make it back downstairs their coffee is on the table.

"Red, what are you doing up?"

Max points to the window, narrowing her eyes at it.
"The sun."

"I understand completely," Robin huffs, taking her coffee and heading to the door, flicking Eddie's forehead on her way by for fun.

"Robs, it's his day off, don't do that!" Steve hisses as Eddie pries an eye open to look around the room.

Robin shrugs, sipping her coffee, "Do what, Stevie?"

"You know what, Bird," Steve sighs, taking his coffee from the table, "Thanks Red."

Max shrugs, making her way in the living room, still kind of glaring at the sun beams, to wake Lucas up for the sole purpose of taking the trash out because she doesn't want to before taking Robin's spot on the couch.

"I didn't do anything, Stevie," Robin says sweetly, with a shrug, returning Eddie's glare he gives her as he holds his hand over where she'd flicked.

"Children, you two are literal children," Steve mumbles, pushing Robin out the door as he waves for Gareth to hurry up on the stairs.

Eddie sits up, poking at Max.
"Stop or lose the finger, Munson."

"Crabby are we?"

Max glares at him, "What do you want?"

He shrugs, "Feel like venturing out for food?"

Max narrows her eyes, making her look more like a pissed off toddler with her bedhead than anything near menacing, "Sugary?"

"Duh, is there another suitable saturday morning option?"

She gets off the couch with a huff, "Give me ten minutes."

Lucas collapses back in the chair after his mission to take pizza boxes outside, "Bring me back a donut, I'm going back to sleep."

El mumbles her agreement, pulling her blanket over her head.
Neither Dustin or Will enter the land of the living, Dustin snoring in the middle of the floor still.

"Wheels?"

"Can caffeine be involved?" He mumbles out.

"Only if your new tape comes with us."

"Deal."

Ten minutes later, Mike piles in the back seat of the van, leaning over to shove the tape in the player before slumping back to close his eyes.

Max goes to climb in the passenger seat until Eddie holds the keys out to her.
"I don't have a license."

Eddie shrugs, "You know the basics, right?"

Max slowly nods, reaching out to take the keys, "Yeah, kinda? Billy taught me when we drove here from California."

That makes the horror story Lucas and Steve spun after Eddie'd made the mistake of asking why Max wasn't learning to drive make so much more sense, and Eddie would most definently be needing a beer after this.
"Great, you drive then."

"Me? Are you sure?"

"Unless you want Mike to," Eddie shrugs, offering the keys to the back seat.

"Mike doesn't want Mike to," he mumbles from the back, clicking his seat belt in place, "Please don't kill us, Max, I want donuts."

"I was thinking more, Frank's diner. Edge of town."

"Pancakes," Mike says, "Even better."

"Steve said -"

"That I could start letting you drive, Red. It's cool."

Max shakily takes the keys and makes her way around the van, "The last time I -"

"Steve told me," Eddie says, swinging himself into passenger seat, clicking his seatbelt into place, "This time we aren't running from weird multidemtional assholes, so I think we'll be fine."

Max climbs in, adjusting the seat.
"Just making sure you've been warned."

"Sis, I was literally in the car with you last time and I'm not bailing out. Just drive."

"Just drive," Max mocks, putting her seat belt on before she turns the engine over, "At least I know how to put a vehicle in gear, Micheal!"

"Then do it, Maxine!"

"Oh for the love of fuck," Eddie mumbles, scrubbing a hand over his face, "The van is touchy, Snaps, so you may have to put more force behind the gear changes than Billy's camero."

Max sighs, putting the van in reverse and eases it out of the drive way.

"You're doing great."

"Yeah," Mike interjects, "No one's screaming yet."

"Micheal!" Eddie hisses.

"Yet," Mike reintertes with a smirk, making Eddie groan.

"I should've left you at home, Wheeler."

Max lets out a nervous chuckle, changing gears and slowly creeping forward down the road until she gets use to Eddie's van, slowly speeding up until she's close to the speed limit.

”Doing great, kiddo,” Eddie encourages as Mike sighs dramatically in the back.

”This Van is use to going so much faster, Maxine.”

”Mike…” Eddie warns, again.

Max glances in the rear view mirror at Mike before smirking, stepping on the gas and speeding down the road, much more than the speed limit asks for. 
Mike cackles with what Eddie assumes is joy from the back seat as he grips the handle above the door, using every fiber of his being not to yell at her like his dad would him when he'd done shit like this when he was younger, trying to channel Wayne instead.

”Max.”

She just giggles in response, taking her foot off the gas and let’s the Van slow down to just over the speed limit. 
Still technically illegal, and slightly still panic inducing, but better than it was so Eddie decides to let it slide. 

All in all, Max does better than Eddie expects, the habit of speeding aside. She's a little too tense, but he suspects that has to do with the last time she'd been behind the wheel.
Mike heckles the whole drive, ignoring Eddie's silent pleas to just fucking stop, but Max is relaxing a bit. Bickering back every now and then, even.

"Signal," Eddie reminds, gripping the seat, "Slow down."

Max presses the break a little too hard, flinging Mike forward into the back of the front seat.

"Max!"

"I meant to do that," Max says with a smirk, flicking on the turn signal, "Maybe you should check to see if your seat belts being worn properly."

Eddie laughs, getting a dirty look from Mike as Max makes the turn onto the next street.

"Am I going the right way?"

"Like, on the street?" Mike asks, leaning forward only to have Eddie gently push him back by a hand to the face.
"Yeah, Snaps, this is the right way. You can speed up. Just a little bit, a little bit!”

She cuts her eyes at him for a second, barely stepping on the gas.

"Don't give me the side eye, Snaps, I'm fixing to provide food money."

"Did I side eye you? My bad, dad."

He huffs out a laugh, pointing to the diner.
"Don't miss the parking lot, Gingersnap."

"Or hit a curb," Mike helpfully adds. 

Max turns into the parking lot, letting out a sigh of relief as she parks the Van and turns it off, handing the keys back to Eddie.

"You did great, Red."

"Not one casuality," Mike states, climbing out of the back seat, "I'm impressed."

Max sneers at him as she trails after him towards the door, mocking what he'd just said in a highpitched nasally tone.

Eddie follows the kids inside as they shove each other around, trying to race to a booth.
"Guys, calm down."

"I won!" Max claims, after having tripped Mike to get there first.

"You did not! Eddie!"

"I don't play referee before coffee," Eddie states, glancing over the menu on the table as he sits for the breakfast selection, "So knock it off."

They both settle down, Mike helpfully pointing out the pancake section as Max searches for something else until the waitress walks over and they both order coffee and pancakes.

"And you two claim not to like each other," Eddie scoffs, handing off their menus after ordering the same thing.

"We don't," Max says.
"We hate each other with a passion and just make people think we like each other," Mike adds.

"You're very good actors then," He mumbles, rolling his eyes.

Their waitress comes back with three coffee's and enough sugar and creamer for an army.
"Figured your sister would want these," She adds with a smile.

"Thanks," Eddie forces a smile as Mike takes one of the creamers.
Max takes a sip of her black coffee just to prove the waitress wrong. It's disgusting and she does usually use creamer, at least. But the Waitress is annoying her today, for some reason.

"Hey, you live with Steve, right?"

Eddie nods, avoiding eye contact, "Yep."

"So, is he like, single?" She gives him a flirty smile.

Eddie starts trying to sputter out an excuse, Mike and Max both choking on their coffee, locking eyes before they both turn to the waitress.
"You're not his type," they both state rather monotonely, Max taking another sip of coffee, for effect.

It's Eddie's turn to choke at that, the Waitress turning bright red.

"My dad doesn't date blondes anyway," Max says matter of factly.
"He goes for brunettes," Mike says, sounding bored, "Can I add a side of bacon to my order, please?"

"Oh, right! Yes! I'll go, put that in... Now," She turns, rushing back to the kitchen.

"Guys," Eddie hisses, trying to keep from laughing, "Don't do that!"

"Did we lie though?" Mike asks, dumping another sugar packet in his coffee as Max reaches for a creamer.

"You two are gonna turn me prematurely gray."

They both shrug, grabbing another packet for their coffees.

After the diner, Max drives them to the donut shop to pick up food for the other teenagers, Gareth, and Steve and Robin. They drop Gareth's off before heading to family video to drop theirs off, then drives home to deliver the donuts to the still sleeping group of teenagers.
Max is more relaxed this time around, leading Eddie to believe she just needs practice that doesn't involve Billy yelling at her or the end of the world looming of their heads.

---

After letting the kids lounge around most of Saturday and Sunday, Steve finally kicked them out sunday night to go home so they could get ready for school the next day. 

Monday morning, bright and early, seven am on the dot Max bounds down the stairs, running directly into Eddie.

"It's just school, kid, what's the rush?"

"Not everyone flunks classes for fun, babe," Steve chuckles from the table, "Some nerds actually like it."

"It wasn't for fun! It was because of fun, two totally different reasons, pretty boy."

"Can I drive? Can I, can I, can I?" Max follows Eddie around the kitchen as he gets his breakfast ready, Steve and Robin laughing. "Please? Can I? Dad, Please?"

"Snaps, I woke up like, twenty minutes ago. Can I at least finish my coffee before I deal with your," He vaguely waves around her, "weird energy?"

Max stays quiet for all of thirty seconds.
"Please?"

Robin snorts her coffee out of her nose as she tries to laugh, quietly cursing as Steve laughs harder.

Eddie watches Max, unamused, as he leans against the counter and sips his coffee.

"Dad!"

"Are you ready to go?" Eddie asks, "Your aunt Robs' gotta head back to college soon."

"I've been ready for an hour!"

"An hour?" Eddie squints at the clock, "You've been ready since six am? Steven, our child is defective."

"I am not!"

"I'd have to agree, we did get the weird one."

"Weird one?" Max snorts, "You could've gotten Dustin! Or Mike!"

"I'm still not convienced we don't have custody of Mike with how much he's here," Eddie mumbles, taking another sip of his coffee, "Fine, let me get my shoes and you can drive to school, you freakin' weirdo."

Max shrieks out something close to an excited 'yes' as she runs out of the kitchen to get her backpack.

"Pushover."

"Says the man that let her get a job after saying no three times," Eddie scoffs, heading upstairs to retrieve shoes.

"You're both pushovers," Robin says, getting up to take her plate to the sink, "Have been since day one."

Eddie yells 'lies!' from upstairs.

"I am not a pushover, I let her get a job so she could have money and not take mine," Steve grumbles, heading to the door.
"I have to go pick up children, I'll see you three there. You have lunch money, right? Need anymore?"

Eddie and Robin smirk at each other as he comes downstairs, Robin mumbling 'sure Steven, keep telling yourself that'. 

"No, I'm all set. Tell Erica I said goodluck!" Max yells out the door after Steve. 

"'Kay," Steve yells back as Eddie ushers her out of the house, handing her the van keys.

"What's pipsqueak need luck for? She planning to overthrow the scholastic government of the elementary school?"

"Unfortunately, I have been sworn to secrecy."

"That means yes," Eddie and Robin both mumble, climbing in the van with Max.

Against Robin's wishes, Eddie lets Max blast music on the way there, barely flinching as she speeds most of the way, hand gripping the handle with a force Robin couldn't see, and not blinking an eye when she comes a little too close to the curb as she pulls in.
"Doin' great, Gingersnap, just watch where you're turning."

"Oops, my bad..." Max says, relatively unbothered by it.

Robin gives Eddie a wide eyed, terrified look as he just shrugs, pointing to an open parking spot by Hopper and Joyce.

"Munson, since when'd this one start driving?" Hopper asks, raising an eyebrow as Max tumbles out of the van and over to El and Will.

"Saturday morning," Eddie shrugs, climbing out behind her, "She's fifteen, she should learn, right? That's when Wayne started letting me drive the truck around."
Hopper cuts his eyes to her.
"I already told her none of the kids are allowed to ride with just her nor can more than two be with us."

Hopper relaxes, nodding.
"Need a beer yet?"

Robin quickly says yes as Eddie shrugs, "She could be worse."

"When's she get her learners permit?"

"Uh," Eddie scrunches his forehead, "Soon, I think? September, maybe? Six months before her birthday, right?"

"Eh, something like that."

"Shouldn't you know that?" Robin asks, "Being a cop and all?"

"Shouldn't you have your license?" Hopper shoots back, "Being a college freshman and all?"

Eddie cackles as Joyce smacks Hopper's arm.
"Leave Robs alone, Jim!"

"She started it!"

Joyce lets out an exasperated sigh, turning to Eddie.
"It's like having another kid, I swear."

"Gare!" El yells, breaking their attention away from Hopper and Robin's bickering.

"Hey, Janie, excited for your first full year in Hawkins?"

El nods, grinning.

"She's got classes with you guys, right?"

"If she's not with me, she's with Mike," Max says, "We've got it covered."

Gareth nods, glancing back over his shoulder at a group of students by the doors.
"Let's go ahead and go in then."

"Ah, no! We're waiting for the guys."

"Mom, don't..." Will whines, making El and Max laugh.

"I'm allowed to be embarrassing, just remember I could be worse."

"Joyce, they're sophomores, let them go inside without your group picture."

Joyce looks at Hopper like she may cave, before simply stating 'no'. 
Hopper shrugs, as if to say 'i tried'. 

Steve pulls up a few minutes later as Joyce and Eddie talk about Eddie's new job and how he's liking it. The kids all piling out and trying to rush inside, getting stopped by Joyce for a very much forced group picture.
"Absoutely not! Smile!"

"See you guys inside," Gareth says, turning to head in the building.

"Gareth Emerson! Get in this picture and smile, mister!"

He slowly turns around, pointing to himself as Joyce wildly nods yes.
"Yes, you. Back in the picture, chop chop!"

Gareth takes the two steps back he'd managed to sling an arm over Max's shoulders, smiling as Joyce instructs the rest of the kids to move closer.
El and Gareth are the only ones who look remotely actually happy, the rest of them forcing fake smiles to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"Momma Joyce, we need a copy of that," Steve pauses mid conversation with Hopper to tell her.
"Absolutely, Steve!"

Max groans, dramatically looking at Will.
"Both of our moms are embarrassing."

"At least someone feels my pain. Can we go now?"

"Yes, fine, go be moody teenagers else where!" 

"Thank god," Max and Will mumble as the group heads inside. 

---

Their morning classes went rather smoothly, and now they all crowd around the hellfire table ignoring the glares from passers by.

"Where's Lucas?"

Max shrugs, "His last class is across the building, might take him a second to get here."

"You know his schedule?" Mike asks, boarderline appalled, "Stalker much?"

"Micheal," Max levels him with a glare, "What's Ellie's next three classes?"

"English, algebra, and government," Mike rattles off effortlessly, "But those are with me."

"Stalker much?"

"Oh that is not the same!"

"Wheels, just drop it man," Gareth chuckles, "Red's got'cha beat."

"You've got to be kidding me," Dustin mumbles.
The others turn to follow his eyeline, scoffing at Lucas standing next to a group of jocks.
"He's gonna ditch us again this year."

"No he's not," Max sighs, "They're his teammates, guys, he has to talk to them."

Dustin rolls his eyes with a scoff, "This is exactly what he did last year, Max."

"Mike, you're closer. Hit him for me."

Mike pops Dustin in the arm as he huffs, glaring at him.

Lucas breaks away from the jocks to head to their table, taking the seat next to Max.
"Guess what."

"You love me so much you're gonna give me your fruit cup?"

Lucas sits it in front of Max without a second thought, "Sure, but no. Coach told me I'm gonna be a starter this year!"

Everyone except Max looks at him with a blank expression, kind of nodding.

"That's great!" Max smiles, she glances over to see Mike and Gareth's confusion as they try to piece together what exactly that means, and if they should be any form of happy for him.
"That means he plays first, guys. Like, opens the game."

"Ohh!" 

"You guys really need to hang out with Steve more, I beg you."

"We're gonna have to move hellfire then, for sure," Mike says, getting a weird look from at least half the table.
"What? Half of us won't even be there on fridays after the games start. Lucas is playing, Max, El, and Will all already said they were going to the games instead. Gareth and Dustin would be the only ones there."

"And you," Dustin says, confused, "Right?"

"No, I'm going to the games. With El. To get picked on by Max. While we watch Lucas."

The table nearly gets into an arguement over which day, Dustin finally agreeing to change his radio date day with Suzie so it can on thursdays instead, since that isn't as concrete as jobs in the case of Gareth, Mike, and Max, and tutoring in El's case. 

The rest of the day is just as boring, nothing exciting really happening in any of their afternoon classes.

"I have homework. First day, and we get homework!"

"Dustin, it's school. I'd be surprised if we didn't have homework," Max snaps.

"Study session at Max's?" Lucas asks, shoving a book in his bag, "I have homework in two classes."

The group collective groans, shutting their lockers and heading into the parking lot as they all agree to go to Steve's, per usual from their last few weeks of freshman year.

Gareth walks up and leans against the wall by Will.
Max and Lucas both smirk, getting glared at.
"You look tired, Gare."

"Exhausted, Who is pickin' you guys up?"

"Eddie, Steve took Robs home and then has to go straight to work."

"We're going to Max's to study, you can come with if you want..." Will mumbles, avoiding eye contact with any of them.

"I was actually gonna see if I could bum a ride to work. But uh, tomorrow?"

"Oh, uh -"

"He'd love to," Mike says, blatantly ignoring Will's glare, "Max's again or the library?"

"Mike!" Will mumbles, trying to kick at his shin without bringing too much attention to himself.

"Uh, library?" Gareth asks, confused, as he looks between Mike and Will.

"Amazing, he looks forward to it."

"Micheal!" Will hisses, wide eyed.

Max has to hide her face in Lucas' shoulder to keep from laughing as Mike asks as innocently as he can, "Yes, William?"

Chapter Text

Will managed to convince himself Gareth hadn’t read too much into Mike’s oh so helpful outburst. Mike says dumb shit all the time, anyway, so it’s not like it’s out of the ordinary or anything. 

“I’m leaving in five minutes if you’re riding with me,” Hopper yells from the door, one foot already in a shoe as he hunts down the other one.

“Behind the door honey,” Joyce helpfully states as she passes by on her way to the kitchen.
“Oh, El, I love the shirt. Max’s?”

El nods, “Yep! She let me borrow it yesterday.”

Joyce gives her a nod of approval as she fixes one of her curls.
“Are you wearing lipstick?”

Hopper snaps his attention to the kitchen, making Will laugh as he slips his backpack on his shoulders.

“Gloss? Also Max’s. Is there a difference?”

Joyce hums, making a ‘so-so’ motion with her hand, “It’s hard to explain. How about I give you some money and you have Max and Erica take you to the store after school and help pick out some lipstick and you can see the difference and decide what you like?”

Hopper goes to object before snapping his mouth shut with a sigh.

“Can I get eyeshadow, too? Erica’s supposed to teach me.”

Joyce glances at Hopper, eyebrow raised.

Looking down right in pain, he nods.

“Sure, honey!” Joyce says with a smile, heading off to get money out of her purse.

“Two minutes,” Hopper yells.

“Can I go wait in the car?”

“Lets both go,” Hopper mumbles, “The less I know about this, the happier we'll all be.”

Will snickers as he heads outside, “Mike’s scared shitless of you, dad. And Max would help you hide the body.”

“That helps a lot, actually.”

Will and Hopper climb in the cruiser, getting situated.

“Well, she’s late. Radio’s yours, kid.”

Will happily finds a station he likes, Hopper suppressing a grimace at it as El rushes out, money in hand to climb in.

“It’s my turn, Will! You picked yesterday!”

“You were late,” Will grins, leaning back.

“Dad!”

“You were late,” Hopper shrugs, backing out of the driveway, “Your turn tomorrow.”

“This is so unfair,” El pouts.
Hopper shrugs again as Will grins bigger.

“Sucks to suck, Sissy.”

El huffs, slumping back in the seat as she crosses her arms.

Hopper watches the two of them out of the corner of his eye as he comes to a stop sign, El snarling her lip at Will as he mouths something Hopper can’t see, but assumes it’s the same sentence again. He has to cough into his hand as he starts driving again, hiding a smile at the two of them.

They bicker like that the whole ten minute drive, Hopper barely holding in his laughter by the time he parks in front of the school.

“I’m making you listen to Madonna tomorrow,” El threatens, huffing as she gets out of the cruiser and heads to meet Max.

“Unless you’re late!” Will calls, making Hopper finally laugh as Will gets out.
“Oh! I’m going to the library with Gare after school.”

Hopper tamps down the urge to go overprotective cop, slowly nodding instead.
“Do I need to pick you up after or does Steve have it covered?”

“Uh, Actually, I think Gare’s gonna give me a ride. I can radio if not.”

“Sounds great, bud, have fun.”

He chuckles at Will’s blush as he shuts the door, rushing up to the girls. Hopper makes a mental note to ask Steve about Gareth as he drives off.

“Why’s pipsqueak so pissy today?” Gareth asks, walking up from the student parking lot, “If looks could kill, I’d say Will’d be a goner.”

“He stole my radio time!”

“You were late!” Will laughs, “Hops told me to!”

El narrows her eyes, menacingly pointing at Will, “Madonna, full blast , tomorrow.”

“Damn, Will, what’d you make her listen to to invoke the wrath of Material girl?”

Max and Mike both burst into giggles as Will tries to keep from smiling as he raises an eyebrow at Gareth.
“Material girl? Secretly into Madonna, are we, Metalhead?”

Gareth stammers slightly, “I uh, what? No! Work.”

“Right,” Will nods, squinting at him.

“I know that from work , Byers!”

“Sure, Gare, sure…” Will smiles, “Work.”

“Oh, shut up, asshole,” Gareth grumbles, pushing Will’s shoulder making him laugh.

“Are you two done flirting?” El snips, “We’re gonna be late.”

“Flirting? Flirting ?” Gareth squeaks, “Janie, I’m being bullied here!”

El raises an eyebrow, “Are you?”

“Let them figure it out on their own, Jane,” Max laughs, throwing an arm around El’s shoulders and steering her towards the doors, “Gare’ll figure out his pigtails are being pulled sooner or later.”

Mike follows after them, chuckling.
“See you two later, I’m gonna go annoy Dustin and Lucas.”

“Go learn about science - y things!” Max yells after him, getting the bird flipped to her as he walks off, making both the girls laugh.

Will bumps his shoulder against Gareth’s, “Come on, we’re gonna be late if we stand out here letting you pout.”

He walks in, Gareth following him as he scoffs.
“I’m not pouting, Byers!”

Will looks over his shoulder to smile, “You sure, Gare?”

“You know what, Byers,” Gareth grumbles, trailing after him. 

They walk in just as the bell rings, getting a slight glare from the teacher.
“Emerson, Byers. Nice of you to join us.”

Will ducks his head to hurry to his seat, whereas Gareth obnoxiously smiles, trailing after him at a leisurely pace.
“It was, wasn’t it?”

“ Gare !” Will whispers, cutting his eyes back to the front of the room.

“I thought I got rid of Mr. Munson last May, Emerson. Tone it down and sit down.”

He takes his seat next to Will, saluting as he does, making Will blush as the whole class watches them.

The lesson starts, neither one paying attention. Gareth zones out, staring out of the window while Will doodles until another student aims a wadded up piece of paper at Will barely catching Gareth’s eye before it gets thrown. He levels the jock with a glare until he loses interest, turning back towards the front to peg the back of a cheerleader's head with it instead.

Gareth gently kicks at Will’s leg, getting his attention to point at the notebook page, scrunching his brows together.
Will shrugs, mouthing ‘bored’. Gareth glances up to the front to ensure the teacher is still preoccupied, lecturing on some form of poem, before he makes grabby hands at the paper.

Will hands it over, blushing as he starts a new page of actual notes while Gareth carefully looks over the less than perfect dragon.
Gareth nudges Will’s leg again, holding up his pen with a raised brow until Will nods. He sets out doodling a knight in front of the dragon, Will carefully watching while trying, and failing, to suppress a smile. 

“Emerson!” The teacher says, smirking, “Care to tell us what a Sonnet is?”

“It’s a fourteen line love poem, Shakespeare used them a lot,” Gareth says, not looking up from drawing details on the armor, “Comes from an Italian word, right?.”
He finally glances up, “Did I pass?”

The teacher sighs, forcing a smile, “Very good. Class, write that down.”

Gareth glances at Will, smiling.
Will points to the paper, holding his hand out. Gareth hands the now Dragon and knight over, Will adding something else to it as the teacher drones on. 

They keep switching every few details for the rest of class, ending up with a full blown medieval scene on notebook paper.
Gareth hands the paper back to Will as he picks his backpack up. Will goes to wad it up until Gareth grabs his arm.

“The hell, dude?”

Will shrugs, “I never keep the stuff I draw in class.”

Gareth holds his hand out, Will confusedly handing it over.
“You want it?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I mean, okay? Be my guest?” He gives Gareth a weird look as he slings his backpack on his shoulder, “Anyway, I don’t have to stop at my locker. Straight to history?”

“Uh, yeah,” Gareth nods, smoothing the papes out as they head out the room and down the hall. 

—

After a 'custody swap' with Mike after their History class so he could take El to intro to art, Max heads off to her geometry class with Lucas and Dustin.

“How did drop off go?” Lucas asks, smiling at Max as she slides into the seat next to him.

“Horrible, my best friend's boyfriend is a douche canoe.”

“That douche canoe is your brother.”

Max sassily rolls her eyes, lightly popping Lucas with her notebook.
“I’m sadly aware.”

“You guys see Will and Gare after their weird writing class?” Dustin asks, digging supplies out of his backpack.

Both Lucas and Max mumble out ‘no’ as they get their textbooks out.

“Mm,” Dustin nods, “Too bad.”

Max cuts her eyes to him, “What do you know?”

He shrugs, “Help me with latin and I’ll tell you.”

Max narrows her eyes at him momentarily before shrugging.
“No thanks, I’m not that desperate. I’ll just ask Gare later.”

“What?” Dustin squawks, “Come on!”

“Get suzie poo to change your grade again, Dustybuns.”

“I’m unadopting myself at this point,” Dustin grumbles, sassily flipping his textbook open.

Lucas, whose sat in between them, sighs as he pinches the bridge of his nose.
“You two are almost as bad as her and Mike together.”

Max maturely sticks her tongue out at Dustin as the bell rings.

“Just as bad…” Lucas mumbles, quickly writing down what’s already scribbled on the chalkboard.

The rest of class goes by smoothly, until the very end when Max raises her hand, getting ignored.

Lucas hands over his notes, “I’ll get them back this afternoon, babe. You can read my handwriting, right?”

Max gives him a small smile as she puts them in with her notes, “Yeah, I’ll add what I didn’t get during lunch. Thanks.”

He shrugs it off, shoving his textbook in his backpack.
“Dustin, walk her to Latin, please?”

Dustin nods, already walking around to pick up her backpack.
“Sissy, you good? Leg okay?”

“I’m fine,” Max mumbles as Lucas books it out of the room and across campus to his next class.

Dustin walks with Max at a much slower pace to Latin, grumbling the whole way there about Steve making him stick with it as his foreign language after he’d gotten told, by Max no less as retaliation for ruining one of her books with water damage, that Suzie changed his grade. Now he’s stuck in Latin and owes Max a book. 

“I don’t need a babysitter, you know that right?”

Dustin scoffs, “I’m not babysitting. I’m protecting the other students from your wrath. Completely different!"

Max lightly laughs, taking her seat as Dustin hands off her backpack and slides into the desk next to hers.
“You know how Will draws during classes?”

“And then throws away full blown masterpieces? Vaguely.”

Dustin snorts, nodding, “Right. Well, he gave it to Gare.”

Max nearly drops her notebook as she looks at Dustin, “ No !”

Dustin just grins, turning to the front of the class.
“Yep.”

Max narrows her eyes at him, “I’m still not doing your homework for you.”

“Eh,” Dustin shrugs, “Fair. You’ll help though, right? Because if I fail this class, Steve’s gonna tell my mom about… The incident.”

“I’d have helped last year if you’d asked, shithead.”

—

After the final bell rings, Will packs up his art supplies as he forces himself to take a calming breath to keep from becoming the ball of nervous energy threatening to consume his stomach as he remembers the fact he’s set to go hang out with Gareth, alone , thanks to Mike’s big mouth.

By the time he makes it through the sea of bodies and dodges more than one of Lucas’ teammates trying to shoulder check him into a locker, Gareth is already leaned up against the Sophomore lockers, holding El’s bag so she can pile what she needs into it.

“You have that much homework, sissy?”

El shoots him a glare around her open locker door, “No, William, I’m bringing these home for fun.”

“Aw, look at you! Using sarcasm correctly!”

She gives him another glare as she shoves her biology book in her bag.

“You’re gonna kill me in my sleep, aren’t you?”

“Madonna,” El threatens as she zips her bag up and takes it from Gareth, “Full. Blast.”

Will watches her as she huffs off down the hallway to meet the others outside.
“She’s gonna kill me in my sleep.”

Gareth snorts out a laugh, shrugging.
“Probably. I’d promise to attend the funeral, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be in Steve’s backyard with Max’s help.”

“Yeah, then Max’ll hold a candlelight vigil in my honor the next day,” Will mumbles with a scoff, making Gareth laugh harder as he follows him out to the parking lot.

“Steve’s not here yet,” Max says as soon as they walk out, the rest of the group slumped against the building, “He had to work this morning, guess he got off late.”

Gareth shrugs, leaning against the wall next to her, “We can wait until someone gets here.”

She cuts her eyes at him, “What about your Study session ?”

Gareth and Will both narrow their eyes at her, making her cackle.

“Max!”
They all turn towards the voice, Max shifting closer to Lucas as Ms. Kelly rushes over from the buses.
“I’ve been trying to catch you since yesterday morning!”

Max curls her lip up, “Why?”

She gives her a confused look, “Our sessions, Max. We need to set a day -”

“My guardian opted me out of those, the paper should be in my file.”

“I saw that, but I just think -” Ms. Kelly cuts herself off with a huff, “You experienced major trauma, Max! The earthquake, the injuries -”

Max shifts uncomfortably, looking away from her to watch down the road.
“- Your mom. Have you talked to her?”

Max doesn’t answer, searching the lot for Steve or Eddie.

“Have you talked to her?” she asks again, stepping closer to Max as Gareth and Lucas both glare her down.

Max turns to glare at her, as well.
“No.”

“Rides here,” Mike announces, pushing off the wall to guide El to Eddie’s van with one hand as she glares the councilor down and grabs Lucas with the other in an attempt to defuse the situation.

Ms. Kelly watches as the rest of the group trickle to the van, brows scrunching together tighter and tighter with each kid climbing in as Eddie apologies for being so late.

“Max, are you supposed to go with Munson?”

Max turns to scowl at her as she climbs in the front seat.

“I’m on the approved pick up list,” Eddie offers with a smile, “She’s my roommate's kid.”

“He’s a better option than Susan, promise,” Max snips, slamming her door.

“Well, this was fun,” Will mumbles, heading off to Gareth’s car as he trails behind him.

“Oh, tons. My favorite thing is watching Max sass adults.”

Will snorts out a laugh as he waits for Gareth to get in and unlock his door, “You’re forever entertained then, I’m sure.”

Gareth makes a so-so motion as he unlocks Will’s door and heads around to get in the drivers side.

—

The kids spill out of the van as soon as Eddie pulls in the driveway, ignoring him as he scolds them for not waiting until he’d at least put the van in park. 

They all rush in the house, Max and Erica heading straight to the dining room table to start homework.
Erica stops unloading her backpack long enough to tell Wayne hi.

Lucas beelines to the kitchen, “Steve! Steve! Steve!”

“Lucas!”

“Guess what!”

Steve crosses his arms, clearly thinking as he blows a puff of air out of his mouth and shrugs, “Uh, Max already made one of your teammates cry?”

“No, but me and one of the other sophomores do have a bet going on who her first victim will be and when,” Lucas says, making Steve laugh, “Guess again!”

Steve shrugs, “I give up, what is it?”

“Coach made me a starter!”

“No shit, kid!” Steve grins.

Eddie leans over to Max, whispering, “Just using context clues, that's one of the handful of jocks that begin the ball tossing, right?”

Max nods, patting him on the back, “Good job.”

Eddie pumps his fist, mumbling out a ‘yes!’ as he heads into the living room to referee a fight on the verge of breaking out over music selection between Mike and Dustin, making Wayne chuckle and Max roll her eyes at him. 

“I’m the only sophomore,” Lucas rambles on, “The other four are seniors. Everyone else is pissed !”

“That’s great, Lucas,” Steve nods along, “Hey, you got homework? We can go practice some before I gotta get you home.”

“Nothing that’s due tomorrow!” Lucas shakes his head quickly, making Wayne laugh.

“That’s what Ed used to say,” Wayne comments as he looks over one of Erica’s papers for her.

Steve looks around Lucas to Max, raising an eyebrow.

“We do have some in biology, but it’s after lunch.”
Lucas turns around to over exaggeratedly mouth ‘snitch’, making Max smirk and Wayne laugh harder.
“But, it is just one page. I could help him with it during lunch, I guess,” Max shrugs.

Lucas turns back to Steve, “See, nothing I need to do right now.”

Steve sighs, “You’ll finish your homework before class?”

Lucas nods excitedly, “Yep! Max, tell him you’ll make me finish it at lunch.”

Wayne and Eddie both laugh, quickly trying to turn it into a cough while Erica openly snickers.

“Mom, I promise to be the overbearing girlfriend and make the dumb jock do his homework,” Max states, as monotone as possible, as she digs in the fridge for her and Erica a soda. 

Lucas bites back the urge to glare at her, instead squeezing his eyes shut as he sighs.

Steve chuckles, “If this paper doesn’t get done, you’re grounded from…”
He glances around the room before his eyes settle on Max.
“Date nights. Got it?”

Lucas nods excitedly again, “Got it!”

Max makes her way back to the table, handing over Erica’s soda as she sits down to work on Biology while Lucas rushes out of the house.

“Dude, I have to change first, I’m not going in jeans!”

“I’ll be outside!”

Steve snorts as he heads upstairs, shaking his head.

“Hey, can I come?” Eddie yells, making Steve laugh and Lucas lean back in the door.

“Absolutely not, Eddie. This is practice, not drool over your boyfriend time.”

“First off, rude,” Eddie grumbles, picking his book back up.

—

Gareth and Will sit in the back of the library, mostly away from everyone else as they pile their history textbooks and notes over the table, trying to complete the worksheet handed out at the end of class. 

“I think number three is on page fifteen,” Will finally mumbles out, pointing vaguely to a paragraph in Gareth’s textbook.

“Two’s right above it then,” Gareth states, scribbling down that answer, “Did we find one?”

“I gave up,” Will admits, busying himself with writing the second answer.

Gareth chuckles, skipping down to four after he marks where the third answer is, “I’ll look in a second then, babe.”

Will cuts his eyes to Gareth who never stops skimming over the text, seemingly oblivious to what he’d just said.
“‘Kay,” Will forces out, searching for the next answer. 

Gareth suddenly looks up from the textbook, pointing to a paragraph for the answer he was finding, “Can I ask you something?”

Will shrugs, marking the answer before pointing to the next one, “Sure.”

“Why’s Ellie so far behind?”

“What’d you mean?” Will asks, far too quickly.

“Not like in school. She’s hella smart, I just mean like…” He trails off, shrugging, “Sheltered. Carnival rides, stuff like that.”

“Uh, it’s not really my place to tell. Ask her tomorrow and she can explain it.”

“So like, if you guys haven’t done it since she was adopted, she doesn’t know what it is?”

Will makes a so-so motion with his hand, “Kinda? Like I said, she can explain it better than me. I don’t know what all she wants out there to people.”

Gareth quickly nods, “Right, no, I get that.”

They go back to hunting for answers, mostly staying quiet and just pointing at the paragraphs in each other's textbooks.

“I wasn’t trying to be an ass.”

Will lightly laughs, back to skimming the page for the answers, “No, it’s fine. Seriously, ask her tomorrow and she can tell you.”

Gareth nods, finishing the last even answer on the sheet and back peddling to one.
“Since I wasn’t an ass, study date tomorrow?” He whispers, glancing up at Will.

Will nods with a smile, “Yeah.”

—

Wayne hands Erica’s paper back to her with a nod.
“Looks good, better than I would’ve done.”

“Thanks uncle Wayne,” Erica says, shoving her books in her backpack and abandons the table to go into the living room with Eddie.

“So, how’s school so far, Red?”

Max huffs, rolling her eyes as she sits up from hunching over her book, “My geometry class is kicking my ass, I have to baby Dustin through Latin, and there’s a new kid in History that thinks no means ‘please keep bothering me’.”

Wayne slowly nods along as he listens, “I thought Dustin took Latin last year?”

“He did,” Max says, carefully choosing her next words.
“He’s just having more trouble with second year Latin.”

Wayne hums, “Yeah, I reckon I would, too.”
He gets up from the table, ruffling her hair and chuckling at her distressed squawk.
“Since my homework checking services are no longer needed, I’m gonna go nap in front of the TV for a few hours before my shift starts. Punch the kid from history in the nose.”

“I can’t punch him yet ! I have to at least give him a chance to realize I’m an asshole!”

He snorts out a laugh on his way to the living room.

“Bye uncle Wayne!”

“Bye kiddo. Ed, I’m gonna head out.”

“You leavin’ so soon, old man?”

Wayne grumbles out something Max doesn’t catch that makes Eddie laugh as he heads to the door.

“Wait!” Dustin nearly trips over Erica to get to the door, “Can you give me a ride home, please?”

Wayne glances at Eddie who shrugs, looking just as confused.
“Yeah, sure, Dust. Let’s go, kiddo.”

Dustin rushes to grab his backpack off the table and meet Wayne at the door, mumbling out ‘thank you’ as he heads to the truck.

“What the fuck was that?” Eddie asks once the door closes.

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” Max says, still staring at the door.

“It’s Dustin,” Erica scoffs, “No one said he made sense, doofus.”

“This is why you’re the least favorite child, Sinclair.”

“Steve adores me,” Erica snips back, looking over her shoulder to throw Eddie an eye roll.

“Keep tellin’ yourself that, Er,” Eddie mumbles, going back to his book as Erica scowls at him and Max laughs from the table.

—

They’ve barely started and Steve is already out of breath, making Lucas laugh as he dribbles past him.
“Come on, keep up old man.”

“ That ,” Steve wheezed, bent over with his hands on his knees. “Is no way to talk to your girlfriend's dad.”

Lucas laughs again, shooting the ball.

Steve recovers enough to run for the ball shaking his head.
“Speaking of, Max requested friday’s off for your games.”

Lucas tries to ward off his grin, failing. “Yeah, I know.”

Steve shakes his head, smiling. “She tell you she did?”

“It slipped out Monday when Mike was making Dustin change hellfire meetings too, so I guess everyone’s gonna be there this year.”
He motions for Steve to pass him the ball again so he can shoot again.

“We’ve all agreed to embarrass the shit out of you.”

Lucas stops to look at him funny, “All? Fridays are the only night you and Eddie both have off.”

Steve nods, "Yeah, so?"

“Wait, so you’re both coming?”

“Eds’ still a little confused about the uh, throwing of balls in laundry baskets thing, but he’s gonna come with me.”

“ Eddie ?”

“As in the person I am dating, yes, that Eddie.”

“Is coming to my basketball games?” He asks, eyebrow raised.

Steve chuckles, stealing the ball back from Lucas with a whiney ‘hey!’.
“It was his idea, Sinclair. But don’t like, expect him to understand any of it.”

“Dude I’m surprised he’s even willing to come, forget understanding it !”

“Didn’t you say Mike was coming?” Steve snorts out a laugh, shooting the ball, “He’s worse than Eds is, believe me. I’ve watched games with both of them, Wheeler’s just hopeless.”

Lucas laughs as he goes for the ball, “Tell me about it.”

“Come on, we’ve only got an hour before you have to be at home if you really wanna practice, shithead.”

“Shit, you sure you can keep up, Munson?”

"Listen here you little twerp," Steve jokes, making Lucas laugh again, "I just needed to warm up, I'm fixing to kick your ass."

"Believe it when I see it," Lucas grins.

—

Wayne turns onto the Henderson’s street, turning the radio down a bit.
“Your moms at work, right?”

Dustin shrugs, “Can’t remember when she works this week.”

Wayne pulls into their drive, clearing his throat.
“Well, don’t destroy the house before she gets back.”

“Thanks for the ride!” Dustin says, swinging the door open and climbing out.
“No problem, kid.”

Dustin stands there with the door open, chewing his lip until Wayne looks at him.
“Dust, you okay?”

“Mom’s birthday is next weekend,” He states matter-of-factly, staring at Wayne.

Wayne nods, forehead scrunched in confusion, “I know, we’re goin’ to dinner with you, aren’t we?”

“Saturday, yes. But you should do something on Friday, I’m gonna be at Steve’s and she works morning shift that day.”

Wayne stares at him for a second before cracking a smile, “You tryin’ to give me your blessin’, kid?”

“Come on,” Dustin groans, “Don’t make it weird.”

Wayne chuckles lightly under his breath, “I’ll see what I can put together, Dust.”

Dustin grits his teeth as he slings his bag over his shoulder, “She wants to see that old movie that’s playing downtown, mentioned it like four times.”
He slams the truck door shut and heads up the driveway.

Wayne rolls his window down, “Hey, kid.”
Dustin turns around as he digs for his house keys.
“This means a lot to your mom, Dustin.”

Dustin awkwardly shrugs.

“I’ll see you this weekend, runt.”

“See you, uncle Wayne.”

Wayne backs out of the driveway as Dustin turns back around to unlock the door. 

—

After about two hours of tossing and turning, Will finally gives up. He throws his covers off the sulk to the hallway. He quietly slips into El’s room, half expecting her to be passed out. But, she’s wide awake, staring at the ceiling like it was the sole reason she couldn’t sleep and Will is mildly concerned it’s seconds from bursting into flames.

“Nightmare?”

Will shakes his head, climbing into her bed, “Can’t sleep.”

“Why?”

“If I tell you, you’ll think I’m a big baby.”

El hums, turning to look at him.
“Last night I had a nightmare that I was back in the lab and Angela was the one testing me, making me a weapon to use against all the nerds in Lenora.”

Will chuckles, “Alright, first off, oddly specific. Secondly, it’s Gareth.”

El scowls, turning back to glare at the ceiling, “Gareth as in I need to hide his body, or as in oh yay Gareth!”

“Both.”

El scrunches her brows together, “Explain.”

“Well he kinda asked why you were so sheltered compared to the rest of us.”

“What’d you tell him?”

Will stays quiet, chewing his lip until El looks at him.
“I panicked and told him to ask you.”

El sighs, turning her attention back to the ceiling, “Do you want him to know?”

“Do you want him to know?”

El huffs, “I asked you first!”

“It’s your power!”

“He’s your boyfriend.”

Will chokes on his own spit, forcing out an ‘excuse me’.

El shuffles around to turn on her side, facing him, “Bottom line, do you want me to tell him? If you don’t I will pull something out thin air, act like Erica.”

Will finds himself staring down the ceiling like he’s trying to burst it into flames, slowly nodding.
“Yeah, if you’re okay with it.”

“Then I’ll tell him,” El states, shuffling around again, going back to staring at the ceiling with Will.

After a few minutes of silence Will whispers, “I have a date tomorrow.”

“Date? Like a date date ?” El excitedly asks, “Like he asked?”

Will nods, grinning.
“It’s just a study date.”

El tries to quietly shriek, kind of failing, lightly smacking his arm, “So? It’s still a date! We told you !”

“Alright, knock it off, Max is gonna be bad enough.”

El giggles, “Fine, I’ll be nice.”

Will rolls his eyes, shifting to pull a stuffed animal out from the middle of his back to toss across the room.

“Can you stay though? Even though you are nightmare-less?” El suddenly asks.

Will nods, shuffling to get comfortable, “Slumber party it is, sissy. Are we pissed at the ceiling still?”

El bursts into giggles, prompting Will to shush her.

“You’re gonna get us caught!” He whispers, trying to stifle laughter himself. 

—

Joyce flings El’s door open in a panic, sighing and holding a hand over her chest when she sees Will and El both curled up in the bed.

“Thing one and thing two, wake up or you’re gonna miss riding with Hopper and have to call Steve or Jon.”

“Five more minutes,” Will mumbles.

“I’ll call Jon now, but you’re gonna miss walking to class with Gare!”

“‘M up, ‘m up!” Will says, nearly falling out of bed to head to his own room.

Joyce looks rather proud of the fact that worked, smiling to herself as she steps out of El’s room.

Will rushes to get ready, rushing to the door with his shoes in his hand as Hopper yells his warning before he leaves.

“Those work better if they’re on your feet.”

“Didn’t wanna be late.”

Hopper chuckles, shaking his head as he holds the door open, “El, we’re leaving!”

El comes running down the hallway, one shoe on and the other in her hand, “I’m here I’m here I’m here!”

“Did I miss today’s theme?” Hopper mumbles, waving them out the door as he follows, chuckling at El trying to put her shoe on and walk at the same time.

“It’s my music day!” El yells before Hopper can even get to the car, making him sigh.

“Yep, it’s your pick today, sis.”

He barely gets the doors unlocked, and El is barely inside before she’s yelling ‘Madonna!’.
“Madonna it is,” Hopper sighs, putting the tape in and pressing play, ‘papa don’t preach’ filtering through the speakers.
They aren’t even out of the driveway yet before El turns it up to ear blasting levels, leaning over to get in Will’s face to taunt ‘I warned you’.
Hopper decides it wouldn’t be that criminal if he goes a little over the speed limit on his way to the school as Will tries to turn the volume down and El immediately yells “It’s my radio time!”

“Dad…”

“It’s her radio time, bud.”

“You’re gonna let us pull up blasting this ?”

“I’m sure your punk friend will understand,” Hopper sighs, ears already ringing, he’s pretty sure.

“Gareth is a metalhead.”

“That’s what I said.”

Will goes to argue, sighing instead as he stares out the window and all but pouts.

Hopper pulls up next to Eddie’s van, Eddie sitting on the hood kicking his feet like a toddler and cracking up at Hopper’s situation as El climbs out.
Will beats Hopper to turn it down, both sighing with relief.

“Who's pickin’ you guys up?” Hop asks, once he regains the ability to hear again.

“I’m going with Max!” El states, sitting in the van so Max can fix her hair.

Hopper looks at Will, who hadn't offered anything, “Are you going with Max as well?”

“Actually, I uh, I’m going with Gare again,” Will mumbles, picking his nail.

Hopper scratches his cheek, humming.
“You know, I’ve collared that kid for weed with Munson before.”

“He - he doesn’t smoke around me, swear.”

Hopper stares at him for a second before leaning over the seat and loudly yelling out of the still open passenger door, “Munson, can I trust Emerson around my kid?”

“ Hopper !” Will hisses, wide eyed and scanning the parking lot.

Eddie shrugs, “Hasn’t killed Max yet, I assume he’s sophomore friendly.”

Hopper sits up, looking back at Will, “Home by six.”

“My curfew is eight,” Will weakly protests, still staring at his nails and not looking at Hopper.

Hopper stares him down, finally letting out a long drawn out sigh. Will starts collecting his bag, climbing out of the car with his eyes trained on the pavement.
“I want your feet on the porch no later than eight, no exceptions.”

Will smiles, “Yes sir.”

Eddie hops off the van to lean in Hopper’s car, “What is it you’re always tellin’ me and Steve?”
Hopper huffs, rolling his eyes.
“Oh, right!” Eddie nods as he snaps and points at Hopper, “Be strict, don’t go back on your word!”

“Munson, step away from the car or I’ll run you over.”

Eddie cackles as he backs away, hands raised in the air. 

“Since the wonder twins are here, am I free to leave or do you still need the scary freak to stand guard?” Eddie asks, leaning against the van as Hopper drives off, Madonna now no longer playing at all. 

Max finishes taming El’s short curls before she looks at Eddie and shrugs.
“I guess you can go back to bed now.”

“Thank fuck,” He says, already swinging the door open to climb inside.

“Bye Eddie!” El calls, already heading to the doors with Will and Max following.

“Bye shitheads.”

No sooner does Max lean against the wall does Steve pull up, kicking the boys out of the car.

“I’m doing pick ups, Eds got work.”

“I’m going with Gareth.”

“Again?” Mike asks, wiggling his eyebrows at Will before he hugs El.

“I’ll make Max hit you.”

“Oh I’m so scare - ow !” Mike huffs as Max slugs his arm.

“Crybaby, let’s go.”

Steve chuckles, “You little shits be nice to Will!”

“Yeah, what Harrington said,” Gareth says, nodding to Steve as he drives off, bumping shoulders with Will.
The group smirks as Will and Gareth smile at each other.

“Come on nerds, lovebirds and El, we’re gonna be late,” Max laughs, playfully tugging El out of Mike’s arms, “I have custody first!”

“She’s my girlfriend, Maxine, you don’t have custody! There is no custody!”

“And she’s my best friend, Micheal, I win!”

Gareth snorts out a laugh as El sighs, “Go to class Mike, I’ll see you in an hour.”

“Just clingy ,” Max tsks, earning another laugh from Gareth the girls head down one hall with Will and Gareth while the other three head the opposite direction, Mike mumbling out, “She does not win .”

“Looks like she kinda did, though,” Dustin quips, getting a scowl from Mike while Lucas laughs.

“Have fun learning about ancient love letters,” El says, interlocking arms with Max as the guys stop at their classroom.

“We’ve gotta make those two stop hangin’ out, Max is rubbing off.”

“No, no,” Will starts, “She’s always been like this, she’s just comfortable enough with you to say random shit now.”

Gareth chuckles, “Random shit?”

Will shrugs, “In case she gets something wrong, she knows you won’t make fun of her.”

Gareth gives him a weird look, heading in to sit down, “Who makes fun of Janie?”

“Have you met most of the student body at this school, Gare?”

The girls head into U.S. History, quickly heading to their seats in the back.

“Oh! Max,” El starts digging her notebook out, “Sometime this week I have money to go to Melvald’s to get lipstick with you and Erica.”

“Your dad okayed that?”

“Eh,” El scrunches her face up, wavering her hand in ‘So-so’, “He didn’t object.”

Max hums, digging out her own notebook, “You need pink, but not like, barbie pink. We’ll ask Erica.”

“Ladies!”
El and Max roll their eyes at the same time, ignoring the new transfer student, Derek.

Max jumps as someone suddenly crouches down by her.
“Maxine, right?”

“Only my grandfather gets to call me that,” Max glares, “To you, it’s Mayfield.”

“Right, right, sorry Maxie.”

El cuts her eyes to them, waiting for Max to elbow him in the face - He’s at the perfect height if she tries hard enough - knowing full well Max doesn’t even let Eddie get away with that very often.

“What do you want?” Max snaps, making Derek laugh.

“What’cha doing this Saturday?”

El scowls as Max raises an eyebrow, thoroughly unamused.
“Working.”

“And after?”

Max forces herself to take a deep breath, turning to Derek in the most monotone voice she can muster and forcing a straight face, “Helping my dad perform human sacrifices, we’re terribly behind. Wanna help?”
She tilts her head to the side, breaking slightly as she can’t fully ward off the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

El has to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the look of pure shock on Derek’s face as he stares at Max, slack jaw.

“Brooks, I’m sure Miss Mayfield is interesting, but take a seat please.”

Max smirks as Derek nearly trips rushing to a seat across the classroom from them.

Max turns back towards the front of the classroom, unable to look at El for the rest of class because she knows they’ll both break.

—

Derek is the first to bolt out of class when the bell rings, making a couple of cheerleaders seated by him laugh, turning to give Max a grin before they trail after him.

The girls get their things, bursting into giggles as they head to meet Mike at the half way point between Max’s geometry class and their art class.
They gain Will and Gareth as they pass, smirking at Gareth tucking another doodle paper into his pocket.

“What’d you two draw today?” El asks, elbowing Max into another fit of giggles when they both blush, Will mumbling out ‘landscape’.

Gareth notes that more than a few of the cheerleaders snicker as they walk by, turning a three sixty trying to figure out why.
“It’s Max,” El states, after watching him do it, “She scared one of the new jocks.”

“Already?” Will whines, “I had ten bucks on it being at least a full week!”

“Sucks to be you, I guess.”

“The hell did you do to get the cheerleaders' attention?”

Max shrugs, “Honestly, kind of assumed I’d have made my target bigger with it.”

Gareth gives the back of her head a confused scowl, mumbling bye as he and Will duck into their classroom. 

“The fuck did she do?”

“Knowing her?” Will snorts, “There’s no telling. Probably told him she’d ask satan to personally turn him into a dung beetle or something.”

Gareth slides into his seat, cocking his head to the side, “That’s an option? What favor do you have to pull to get that?”

Will shrugs, offering an ‘iunno’. 

—

Lucas makes his way into the cafeteria, stopping to talk to the jocks for a second before heading to their table.

One of the jocks cackles as he walks up, slapping the new guy on the back.
“Brooks, tell him about the big scary red head!”

Lucas lightly laughs, “Oh no, what’d Max do now?”

“Dude,” The transfer - Brooks - almost whispers, “You know her?”
The jocks all laugh harder, one wiping tears away.

“Yeah,” Lucas slowly nods, “She’s my girlfriend. What’d she do?”

“You’re dating her?” He actually does whisper, scandalized. 

Lucas nods again, completely lost, “For a while now.”

“Brooks here thought he had some balls on him and tried to talk to her, turns out she has plans on Saturday,” Another one finally offers, laughter threatening to interrupt.

“Work?” Lucas wonders, still lost.

“Her and Munson have some satanic work to do.”

“Ah,” Lucas nods, “Found out who one of her guardians is, did you?”
Brooks stares wide eyed at him, flicking his eyes across the cafeteria to the hellfire table.
“She’s mostly harmless.”

A jock snorts, “Mostly my ass. When she had crutches she was lethal! Hobble around taking knees out.”

“She only did that once,” Lucas argues, “And it was the asshole who attacked my sister.”

The table murmurs their agreement on Andy being an ass.

“I’ll go tell her to behave, but, maybe leave her alone.”

Brooks quickly nods, still wide eyed and scared.

“Great, see you guys at practice.”

“Dude, he plays with us?” Brooks asks as Lucas turns to head to the Hellfire table.

One of the cheerleaders loudly laughs at that, confirming that he does.

Lucas sits beside Max with a sigh, “Okay, what’d you do?”

“To who? It’s noon, I’ve done a lot,” Max fakes confusion as she looks at Lucas.

“For my own entertainment purposes, start with why the jock looks scared,” Mike says, nodding towards where Lucas had just come from.

Max glances over her shoulder, smirking.
“Derek asked me out. He didn’t understand the ‘n’ or the ‘o’, so I got creative, that’s all.”

“He asked you out?” Lucas asks, getting a nod from Max and a chipper ‘yep!’ from El.
“Oh, put him six feet under, baby.”

“Aw, I love when Lucas is supportive of Max’s crime sprees,” Gareth offhandedly says.

The table bursts into laughter, Mike glancing over to see the jocks - mostly - all laughing with them, as if they’d heard it which he doubted.

Gareth moves the mixed vegetables around his tray for a second before training his attention to El, “Hey, Jane, can I ask you something?”

El nods, already back to picking at her lunch.

Gareth pauses, acknowledging Mike’s glare aimed at him.
“Why hadn’t you ever rode fair rides before July?”

“Raised in a lab,” She states simply before looking up, “I will explain it in more detail after school, but I grew up in the lab outside Hawkins.”

Mike and Max both glare at Gareth, forcing the laugh at what he assumes is a joke fizzle out before he can actually laugh.

“The lab?” He asks.

El nods, “I can move stuff with my brain, show you later.”

Gareth cuts his eyes to Max who nods with a tight lipped smile.
“Yeah, show me later Ellie.”

—

When the final bell rings, the kids rush out of their respective classrooms to meet at the lockers, El and Dustin already arguing over their English homework when Gareth walks up, leaning against Will’s locker to wait on him.

“Dustin, I wrote down exactly what she said!”

“Then you misheard.”

Max slams her locker with a huff, rolling her eyes.
“Then we both misheard her because El is right.”

“You always side with El!”

“I wonder why,” Max deadpans, making Gareth and Lucas laugh. 

Will rushes up, mumbling his apologies for making them wait.

“Dustin’s arguing with El over due dates again, not your fault,” Lucas states, ignoring the glare from Dustin.

“We good to go now? Or do these two need to be standing here to have this conversation?”

“We are good because I am right!”

“We can leave, but El’s still wrong.”

Gareth hangs his head as Max throws hers back in a long drawn out groan and Mike knocks his against a locker.

“Okay, I’ve gotta get to practice,” Lucas grumbles, pecking Max’s cheek before taking off down the hallway, Max yelling ‘have fun’ after him.

“Let’s continue your discussion outside,” Will says, “Please. Steve’s gonna come in looking for us.”

“I said we can go!”

Gareth grabs Dustin’s backpack and hauls him towards the doors as Dustin smacks at him chanting ‘hey hey hey!’, “Great, get a move on it, runt.”

“Oh thank god,” Mike mumbles, following after Gareth and Dustin.

As soon as the group steps outside and takes up residence against their normal wall, scanning the lot for either the beemer or van, the principal scurries over.
Everyone rolls their eyes, Max slumping against the wall behind Dustin. 

Higgins mentally counts before looking at Gareth, “Sinclair, where is he?”

Gareth shrugs, “I assume he’s throwing a basketball at something, sir.”
Higgins grimaces at the ‘sir’ being clearly thrown in as an afterthought to ward off some of the snark.

“Practice starts today, right,” Higgins mumbles under his breath before clearing his throat, “So, I heard your little game club moved to Thursdays.”
Gareth grabs Mike's arm and digs his nails into it before he can correct him, knowing it wouldn’t help their case.

“Yep, gotta support the tigers come game season,” Gareth states with a forced smile.

“Great!” Higgins grins, making nearly all of them snarl their noses, “Love to see kids like you guys getting involved!”

“There a reason you came over here?” Max asks, tone flat and not bothering to fix her facial expression as she peers around Dustin.

“Well yes, actually, Miss Mayfield -”

“It’s Harrington, but please continue.”

Higgins’ face screws up in confusion, making Max smirk.
“Anyway,” He shakes his head, “I was thinking, and maybe you shouldn’t continue to wear those tacky shirts, hm? Might make a bigger target on your backs.”

“Do the other clubs have to stop wearing their ‘tacky shirts’?” Gareth asks.

“Well, no -”

“Then we’ll think about it,” Max spits out, pushing off the wall with a huff as she stomps across the lot with El hot on her heels to meet Steve halfway, the other kids all filing in behind her.

“Like Max said, we’ll think about it,” Gareth says, turning to bring up the rear of the group. 

—

Gareth and Will sit back at the same table, Will working on a biology paper while Gareth does trigonometry, neither saying much.
After El’s 'demonstration' once they'd left the school, Will has himself almost convinced Gareth is plotting a way to get out of hanging out with them for the rest of the school year.

Will finally pokes Gareth’s arm with his pencil, “Too freaked out?”

“What?” Gareth looks up, “About El?”
Will nods.
Gareth stares at his textbook again for a second before looking up and shrugging. “Max and Eddie are cool with everything, so I’m not as freaked out as I would be. Still might take some getting used to though.”

“That’s fair,” Will slowly says, “So, not gonna just stop hanging out with us?”

Gareth shoots him a confused look, shaking his head. “Your sister moves shit with her mind. After all the shit Hawkins has been through in the last two years, I’d say that’s right on brand.

Will lightly laughs, “good, because she threatened to help Max put you six feet under if you did.”

“Again, pretty on brand for our friend group.”

They slip back into silence, Will going back to his paper. 

“Sorry, I didn’t expect to have a shit ton of trig.”

Will shrugs, jotting down one of his answers.
“We’re at a library, Gare, it’s not like we can do a whole lot.”

Gareth snorts, nodding, as he angrily erases something on his paper.
“Fuck it, I’ll do this during creative writing tomorrow.”

“Finish your homework, Emerson,” Will says flatly, writing another answer down, “We both know you won’t do shit in first period besides ignore the teacher.”

“Incorrect!” Gareth gasps, “I’ll annoy you as well.”

Will cracks a smile, looking up at him, “Anything except do your homework, now finish it.”

Gareth mumbles out ‘bossy’ as he finishes the problem, making Will smile more as he hooks his ankle around Will's.

In the time it takes Gareth to finish his trig homework, Will finished his biology worksheet and most of the English homework that they decided isn’t even due tomorrow.
Much to Dustin’s dismay, El won the argument.

“Done?”

“Finally,” Gareth groans, shoving his textbook in his backpack, “What time am I supposed to have you home?”

“Eight,” Will checks his watch, “Three more hours.”

“Will Hopper kill me if we don’t stay here?”

“Hopper doesn’t even know where we are, Gare, I think it’ll be okay.”

They end up at the local diner with milkshakes and sharing a basket of fries, ultimately losing track of time as they swap stories about their friend group when they were younger and while Will was in California. 

“That’s how they got on Ed’s radar,” Gareth explains, shoving a milkshake covered fry in his mouth, “Mike getting shoved in a locker - Well, Andy trying, I guess.”

“So nothing changed from middle to high school I see.”

“Appears not,” Gareth snorts, “Wait, you’re telling me Mike didn’t learn not to run his mouth in middle school getting treated like that?”

“Have you met the guy?” Will deadpans, “He’s the dull knife of the bunch on a good day, Gare, the fact he learned not to always mouth off to Max impressed us.”

Gareth laughs, reaching for another fry and catching the time on his watch, “Shit, what time do you need to be home?”

“Uh, eight, why?” Will asks, looking at his own watch and cursing at it being seven thirty.

Gareth slides Will his keys, digging out his wallet, “Go ahead and go to the car, I’ll get the ticket.”

Will stares at him for a second before slowly picking up his keys, “I can pay for my half, Gare.”

“No, I got it,” Gareth says, already scooting out of their booth to head to the counter.

Will slowly makes his way outside to Gareth’s car, climbing in the passenger seat and putting the keys in the ignition.

Gareth makes his way out to the car a few minutes later, climbing in and holding his hand out for the keys until Will mumbles he’d already put them in.

“So, how much trouble are we gonna be in if you're late?”

“Hop would probably ground us both, then call Steve to ensure we were grounded there too.”

“Steve can ground you?”

“So can Eddie I’m pretty sure, but he’s usually the reason I’m grounded at Steve’s.”

Gareth nods, a little too understanding, as he heads towards the Hoppers-Byer’s house.
“Yeah, Ed’s been the culprit more than once for me.”

Will snorts out a laugh, “Doesn’t even surprise me, honestly.”

“At this point, the only thing that could surprise me is if I heard Eddie getting on to one of you guys.”

Will shrugs, “He does it all the time, Gare. He’s gotten onto Max more than Steve has, I think.”

“Bullshit!” Gareth laughs, “There is no way in hell. Those two are thick as thieves!”

“You’re just never around for it,” Will shrugs, “He grounded her in July for sneaking El a horror novel after Hopper told her no. Like, only three days, but still.”

“Wait, the weekend we didn’t have movie night?”

Will nods, “Yep, it would’ve been like two weeks, but El fessed up she hadn’t told Max she couldn’t have it.”

“El lied ?”

“Actually, I think she just withheld the truth.”

“That’s lying!” Gareth laughs, turning into the driveway.

“Max didn’t ask her if Hop said she could have it, she just asked if she could read it,” Will shrugs, grabbing his backpack and climbing out, “She technically can read it. White lie.”

Gareth gets out, cackling as he follows Will to the porch, “But she knew what she meant!”

Will grins, shrugging as he steps onto the porch, checking his watch. Seven fifty five.

“Uh, well, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Will nods, “Uh, yeah. Um, do you want to hang out again after hellfire?”

“I have work. Eddie’s literally covering half my shift on top of his own so I can go tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” Will shrugs, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.
Gareth awkwardly shoves his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels, “Um. I open Saturday, if you don’t have plans that night, maybe we can catch a movie or something?”

“I’m free!” Will says a little too quickly, clearing his throat, “I mean, I don’t have any plans Saturday.”

“It’s a date then,” Gareth smiles, taking a step back from the porch.

“Yeah,” Will agrees, returning the smile.

They both jump as the door swings open, Jonathan freezing in the doorway for a second before turning around and yelling, “Hop, he’s here.”

“Ha!” Hopper yells back, “I knew I liked that kid, right on time!”

Jon shakes his head as he chuckles, shutting the door, “Well, you’re already higher on the list than Mike so, congrats Gare.”

“That doesn’t really feel like an accomplishment.”

“It’s not, Argyle’s higher than him.”

“On the imaginary list or just in general?” Will asks, getting a heatless glare from Jon as Gareth laughs.

“Well, I’ll um, see you in the morning, Will.”

Will awkwardly waves, side stepping a smirking Jon to get in the house, “Bye Gare!”

—

Max looks in the mirror one last time at one of Lucas’ hellfire shirts tucked into her jean shorts before she heads downstairs, Steve pausing mid bite of his breakfast to take in her clothing choices for the day before shrugging it off and continuing, to used to seeing the shirt over the summer to think twice about it.
They were having their first official club meeting of the year after school, just to confirm the new DM, and she’d be damned if any stink eyes thrown their way ruined the fun of matching for the guys, Mike whining the whole study session the previous day that wearing the matching shirts was half the fun on club days.

“You guys might get a call from the school today,” Max states, knowing it’ll lessen the blow if she does get in trouble today to at least warn them, forcing her voice to come out as bored and even as she can.

Eddie doesn’t even flinch, eyes not missing a word in the novel he’s reading as Steve spills egg off his fork as he jerks his head up to look at her.
“What’cha planning on doing, Gingersnap?” Eddie asks.

“We got told not to wear our club shirts.”

Eddie finally looks up from whatever book he’s reading, checking out her clothes before smirking. “I have some chains if you’d like to borrow them.”

“ Eddie !” Steve hisses, kicking him under the table.

“Actually, do you one better!” He ignores Steve, turns his book pages down on the table and pushes away from it to head upstairs as Max forces herself not to literally shake.

She hadn’t tried to be so much as a whiff of rebellious since moving into Steve’s - excluding the group sneak out - and she is scared shitless .

Eddie bounds back down the stairs with something in his hands, holding it out to Max to inspect.
“Battle vest pre the one I wear now.”

“What?” Max nearly squeaks, almost scared to reach out and take the flannel vest like Gareth’s, Eddie nearly forcing it into her hands.

“You don’t have to, snap, but it’s not like I ever wear it. Hell, I almost left it at the trailer when I moved out.”

Max slowly looks over the pins, seeing mostly the same ones he wears on the new battle vest with a few lighter rock bands mixed in, and pin holes where he’d taken some off - presumably to wear on the jean vest.

“I can wear it?”

Eddie shrugs, “You can have it if you want. I mean, you listen to all those, right? You can just add to it.”

Max grins as she slips it on, “Thanks, dad.”

He shrugs again, tossing her the van keys, “Go start it up, we gotta pick Henderson and Mike up today.”

Max nods, rushing off to grab her backpack and head out the door as Eddie puts a bookmark in his book and downs the rest of his juice.

“Thought you said you didn’t have a reason for washing that the other day?” Steve asks, smirking, “What’d you say? ‘Finally unpacked the box and found it’?”

“I didn’t, no reason,” Eddie insists, “Completely coincidental!”

“Same coincidence that your vest is light a pin today?”

“I have no clue what you are talking about, Steven,” Eddie says, turning tail to head to the door, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to take our children to school.”

Steve chuckles, “Sure, Eds, sure. I’ll let you win this one.”

Eddie scoffs as he shuts the door on his way out, making Steve laugh.

—

Their morning classes had gone smoothly, the only one of their group not in a hellfire shirt is Will, El in one of Mike’s from last year.
 

Her and Dustin walk to the Cafeteria from Latin, Max glaring down anyone even half tempted to say anything to them as Dustin yammers on about Suzie and their radio date after school.

“- It’s just, ugh ! Max, what if she can’t change days?”

“She’s boring, Dust, no offense, I doubt she has her other days filled.” She glares at a cheerleader as she sneers at Dustin.

“You’re right, you're right,” Dustin sighs, “So, movie night tomorrow, right? If not, we’re having a sleepover.”

Max breaks her staring contest with the cheerleader to look at Dustin, “Wait, what? I think I missed something, Bub.”

“Tomorrow, Friday. Movie night?”

Max shrugs, “Uh, Gareth works, me and Mike open Saturday. We haven’t talked about it, why?”

“I kinda pushed Wayne to plan a date night for my mom, for her birthday. One without me. I told him I’d be at your house.”

Max softly smiles, “That was very big of you, Dust. I’ll ask after hellfire tonight, if not I’ll watch one of your shitty sci-fi movies with you.”

“Thanks, Red,” Dustin grins.

“But only one! I have to be up early.”

“I’ll take it!” Dustin quickly nods, still grinning. 

She pushes the door open, heading inside and beelining it to the table to take their seats, scanning the cafeteria for any one brave enough to come over to say anything, knowing no one really would be. 

“Max, Max, Max!”

Max looks at El, wide eyed, “What?”

“Will you help me study on Sunday for our test?”

“Yeah, of course, Ellie. After I get off work, my place? Study and snacks?”

El quickly nods, smiling.
“I think I get it, I just need some help on the smaller details."

Max goes back to scanning the room, half looking for Lucas now, “We can make flash cards, if you want.”

“Flashcards?” El asks, head tilting to the side.

“It’s a study tool Ellie,” Gareth says, “Question on one side, answer on the other.”

El kind of nods, still visibly confused.

“I’ll explain it as we do it, how does tha sound?”

“Okay!”

Another transfer, probably the daughter of a nurse that moved here after the earthquakes if Max had to guess, walks in with her nose buried in a book. Beth? That might be her name. Or Katie? No, it’s definitely Beth. She thinks she’s in their English class, so she has to be a sophomore.

One of Lucas’ teammates smacks at another one's arm to get his attention before sticking his foot out enough to trip her, the whole table cackling like hyenas when she falls. 

Max flicks one of her braids over her shoulder as she stands up, heading over without a second thought as Mike and Will hopelessly start a steady stream of ‘ Max, no, come back, Max !’. 

“Hey, asshole,” Max yells, wishing she’d have had the forethought to leave her glasses with Mike, just in case he’s more of an asshole than she expected.

“What, freak?” he asks, grinning.

“Did your mom forget to teach you manners, asshole?”
No backing down now, she’s almost there and his smile is faltering the closer she gets.

“Did yours before she ran off?”

Max decides she gets a gold star for keeping a straight face.
“She did, actually. It was quite high on her priorities so I didn’t turn out like you.”

They don't have a comeback for that, glaring at her as she bends down and picks the book up that tumbled a few steps away before walking over to help Beth up.

“You sit in the corner, right? We have an open spot at our table if you’d like.”
She glares at the jocks as she hands the book back, “Sorry he thinks he has something to prove, by the way.”

Beth quickly nods, nearly whispering out a ‘thank you’.

“Great, we’d love to have you.” Max says with a smile as she turns to lead Beth to the table. 

“Have fun with the freaks,” one yells.

Max flips him off without turning back, guiding Beth to sit in Lucas’ seat.

“I’m Max, by the way.”

“Beth,” she smiles. 

—

Dustin grumbles as he sits down at his desk.
‘ I told them I’d be late, better not say shit when I get there! ’

“Suzie?” He talks into the radio, sighing as his walkie goes off.

“ Hey, don’t forget Ed’s at work covering for Gare and Steve’s at work until five! ” Max reminds him, because he’d magically forgotten he’d have to bike to the meeting, apparently. 

“Dusty?”

“Suzie!” He grins.

“How’s school going so far?”

“Uh, well… We have to move our club meetings around,”
Dustin guesses it’s better to just say it now, instead of waiting around until she has to give off - careful to say ‘ club ’ and not hellfire or heaven forbid DnD.
“We’ve gotta meet on Thursday’s now, so uh, we’re gonna have to talk on literally any other day.”

Suzie stays quiet, long enough that Dustin gets worried.

“Suzie? Did you hear me?”

“Dusty, I can’t talk any other day.”

That doesn’t make sense, as far as Dustin knows she doesn’t really do anything besides take care of her siblings, like Max had pointed out at lunch. 

“Can Eden really not watch them any other day?”

“Thursdays are the only day my dad’s not home.”

Dustin’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, “Uh, okay, and?”

Another long silence.

“Suzie? Do we have a bad frequency or something?” Dustin jokes, nervously laughing.

“Dusty, My dad doesn’t really like you.”

Oh . Dustin doesn’t really know what to say to that, but he doesn’t have long to think about it.

“It’s not you! Well, it is, kind of.”

“It is or it isn’t, Suz?” Dustin laughs again - it comes out forced and too high pitched.

“It’s Steve and Eddie, too. He overheard me and Eden talking about well…”

“Talking about what?”

“How they are .”

Oh, oh . Dustin’s inside churn. 

“How they are,” Dustin repeats, tone flat. “They aren’t anything. How does that even affect us?”

“My faith -”

Dustin tunes her out after that, he doesn’t know why, but he just does. 

“- Dustin? Are you listening?”

“If you have a problem with them, then…” Dustin starts talking before his brain can finish the sentence. He stops himself, trying to decide if he was really fixing to say it.
“Then, we shouldn’t date, they’re the closest thing I’ve got to family besides my mom, Suzie. They’re -” He cuts himself off with a humorless laugh, “You have a problem with my best friends, big brothers, hell, parents , Suzie. They’re not hurting anyone.”

“You're right,” She finally says, “I don’t think this is going to work out.”

Dustin’s pretty sure he might throw up.
He sighs.

“Great, I wish you the best then.”

He walks out of the room before he can hear her response, grabbing his bag and heading outside. If he hurries, maybe he won’t be late. 

But it’s fucking raining . 

He goes back inside to call - who?
Steve and Eddie are both at work, Max just reminded him. 

Begrudgingly, Dustin picks up the receiver and dials Wayne’s number.

“Munson’s.”

“Hey, Wayne, it’s Dustin. Can you give me a ride to Hellfire? The guys are at work and I don’t really want to ride my bike in the rain.”

“Lemme put my shoes on and I’ll come get’cha, kid.”

“Thanks.”

“Mhm,” Wayne mumbles before the line goes dead. 

Dustin chooses to wait on the porch, replaying the whole near ten minute conversation in his head until Wayne’s truck pulls up.

“The hell you doin’ waitin’ in the rain, boy!”

Dustin shrugs, clicking his seatbelt in place.

Wayne side-eyes him as he pulls out of the driveway.

“Okay, I’m used to the weird, silent treatment lately, but what’s this shit?”

Dustin sniffles, making Wayne’s eyebrows shoot up.
“Mom told you I’m dating someone I met at camp last summer, right?”

Wayne just nods.

“We just broke up,” Dustin whispers.

“Well, shit, kid. What happened?”

“I think I broke up with her?” Dustin snottily laughs, “Not really sure who started it, honestly.”

Wayne waits, silently, for Dustin to continue as he drives across town to the school. 

Dustin stays quiet until they turn onto the road to the school.

“Her family is super religious.”

“Up over thatta way -” Wayne points vaguely in the direction of Utah, “- Right?”

Dustin nods, and Wayne goes back to silently waiting.

“We kinda broke up right after spring break because she -”
He cuts himself off, snapping his jaw shut, turning to stare at Wayne wide eyed.

He stops at a stop sign, nearly to the school, “Free pass, I won’t tell your mom anything we talk about.”

Dustin stays quiet for a few more minutes, contemplating how well he can trust that.
“Uh, she - Suzie - hacked the computer system at school and changed my Latin grade.”

Wayne chuckles, “Your mom know?”

Dustin quickly shakes his head.

“Does your other mom know?”

Dustin scoffs, “Max told him last month.”

Wayne laughs, “Sisters, giant pain in the asses, right?”

“Right,” Dustin laughs, a little less snotty.

“So, you asked her to change your grade -”

“She offered, actually. Her dad found out.”

“I take it he ain’t too crazy about you?”

Dustin shakes his head, “Apparently not.”

Wayne tsks, “That’ll do it.”

Dustin picks at a thread on his shirt, waiting until Wayne turns into the parking lot.
“She has an issue with them.”

“Them?”

“Steve and Eddie,” Dustin clarifies, “So, we broke up.”

Wayne pulls up next to the doors, putting the truck in park.

“You,” Dustin sniffles again, avoiding eye contact as he watches Max under the covered sidewalk riding her skateboard back and forth, Will and Gareth at one end, Mike and Lucas at the other making sure she doesn’t run into any walls as El watches, no doubt making sure she doesn’t tumble off. “You think I did the right thing?”

Wayne shrugs, “Do you think you did?”

Max skates back to Gareth and Will, maniacally laughing as Will says something.

Dustin nods, “Yeah. I honestly think if we road tripped back through Utah and she said something about any of them, I wouldn’t have it in me to hold Max back.”

“There’s your answer, kid,” Wayne chuckles.

Dustin sniffles again, wiping at his cheeks.

“You’ve never broken up with anyone, have ya, kid?”

Dustin shakes his head, “No, never dated anyone else.”

Wayne sighs, absentmindedly nodding his head.
“You’re young, kid. I know it feels like it’s the end of the world, but it ain’t.”
Dustin looks at him as he watches Max skate back towards Lucas.
“You’re gonna find someone else, that doesn’t have an issue with your family, maybe even plays that weird game you kids like. Maybe not here, maybe when you get into college, but it’ll happen.”
Dustin looks back at the group, Max and Mike cackling as she tips off the board and lands on her butt.
“It’s not the end of the world, kid, promise.”

Dustin undoes his seatbelt, picking up his backpack.
“Thanks, Wayne.”
He pushes the door open, climbing out.

“Dust.”

Dustin looks at him as he slings his bag over his shoulder.

“Tomorrow after school you’re goin’ to Steve’s?”
He waits for Dustin’s response, a quick nod.
“What’re your plans for sunday?”

“Nothing?” Dustin shrugs.

“I’m goin’ fishin’ outside of town. You wanna come with me?”

Dustin slowly nods, “Sure. I’ve never been though.”

“How the hell have you never been fishin’?”

Dustin shrugs again, watching his shoe dig at a crack in the pavement, “Dad wasn’t very involved when he was around, Steve and Eddie don't do it.”

Wayne harshly exhales, nodding.
“Be ready ‘bout eight am, Dusty.”

Dustin shoots him a small smile, “See you Saturday for mom’s birthday dinner, Wayne.”

Wayne nods, going back to watching Max skate. “See you Saturday, kid.”

Dustin shuts the door and heads to the group, Max tumbling off her board again and straight into Lucas as they both burst into giggles.

“Hey, turns out I’m not late guys.”

Max looks at him, joke on the tip of her tongue until she sees his face clearer.
She pushes off Lucas to stumble towards Dustin, “Dusty, what happened? Have you been crying? I swear if anyone -”

He quickly shakes his head, “Talk about it later.”

“Dustin -”

“Seriously, I’m fine right now.”

Max slowly nods, looking at Wayne to wave as he drives off.
“Okay, well we’re waiting on one more before we start.”

Dustin glances around, mentally counting everyone. They’re all here, so he looks back at Max confused.

“Beth, the girl I invited to lunch today? I invited her, and she seemed interested.”

“Beth wants to play? Like, make fun of us with you play or actually play?”

“Actually play, like, thought it sounded fun.”

Dustin slowly nods, “Huh. Yeah, we can wait…”

“Well, we told her you’d be later than you were, so,” Mike shrugs, “We got some time. El’s trying to help Max get her muscle memory back.”

Chapter Text

The usual Friday movie night doesn’t happen, Lucas spending time with his parents - with Erica tagging along - while El and Will have a sibling sleepover at the trio's apartment and Gareth fully intending on going home after his late shift to pass out.

After school, Dustin goes home with Max, as already planned to ‘force her to watch a shitty sci-fi movie’ she plans on pretending to hate.

Steve waves cash around to catch their attention before laying it on the table, “Don’t starve to death, we’re going to get Robs.”

“Make sure your homework gets done, please,” Eddie tacks on. 

“Oh!” Max leans over the arm of the chair she’s in, “I need you to look over one of my assignments that’s due next week!”

“Leave it on the table, Snaps, I’ll look at it tonight.”

“Thank you!”

Dustin hits play on the remote, ignoring Steve and Eddie all together, getting a bitchy-annoyed look from Max as she settles back into her chair, pulling her blanket up to her chin as she side-eyes Dustin.
Eddie cuts his eyes to Steve, who shrugs and heads out the door.

As the ghostbuster credits roll, Max stretches out in her chair, glancing over at Dustin still blankly watching the TV from the other couch. “Why so quiet, Dusty buns? I thought I’d be getting commentary, trying to lure me over to the dark side.” 

“Don’t call me that.”

Max’s eyebrows shoot up as she nods, “Yeah, sure, bub. Uh, so, are you ready for pizza or just wanna crash?”

Dustin stares at the TV a few more seconds before he sighs, shrugging as he lolls his head over to look at Max, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap, Red.”

She shrugs, “Hey, it’s cool. You’re worried about your mom, I get it.”

“That’s not it,” He sighs again, shaking his head, “Wayne’s cool, I was just being an ass.”

“I’m sorry, did you just willingly admit to being an ass without someone forcing you? Am I dreaming?” Max gasps, whispering, “Did I die?”

Dustin picks at one of his nails, ignoring her.

“Dust?” She carefully asks, expecting to at least get some sort of response from being dramatic.

“I broke up with Suzie yesterday, before hellfire,” Dustin rushes out in one breath.

Max sucks in a breath, quietly saying ‘oh’. 

“That’s why I wasn’t late.”

“And why you looked upset and didn’t want to talk about it, got it.”

Dustin nods, continuing to pick.

“Do you wanna talk about it now?” Max asks, already throwing off her blanket to head over and climb on the opposite end of his couch.

After a few seconds of silence, he finally nods, Max politely waiting for him to continue.

“I told her we had to change the day, right?”

Max quietly gasps, “Dust, we didn’t break you two up, right? We can -”

“No,” Dustin quickly shakes his head, sniffling. “It wasn’t you guys. It was her, she uh…”

“She what?” Max asks, defensive and bordering on overprotective sister, making a small smile force its way onto Dustin’s face.

“She doesn’t agree with Steve and Eddie.”

“You told her about them?” Max carefully asks, brows scrunched in confusion only getting worse when Dustin shakes his head.

“Eden picked up on it, I guess.”

“Fuckin’ Eden!” Max spits out, “Erica said she didn’t like her.”

Dustin shrugs, “I mean, if she doesn’t like them, she wouldn’t like half our friends, Max.”

“Well, yeah, but no one else was dating her, Dusty.”

He stays quiet a full minute before carefully choosing his next words as he stares at the floor.

“That’s not it. Say we went back to Utah, next year. And she says something about any of them, What would you do?” He looks back at Max, waiting for her response.

Max sighs, squeezing her eyes shut as she mumbles out, “Probably try to punch her.”

“And I’d let you.”

Max’s eyes fly open as she stares at Dustin wide eyed. “I’m sorry, What?”

“You guys are all I have, Max. It’s just you guys and my mom. And maybe hopefully Wayne. But, you guys are it.”

“Dust…”

“And I’d pick them over her every single time. I didn’t even have to think about it, honestly,” Dustin shrugs, “Just uh, promise me you or Mike won’t try to set me up.”

“We tend to stick to the hopeless gays if you haven’t noticed, I have no expertise in the nerdy straights.”

Dustin laughs, sniffling again.
“Can we order pizza? I’m starving.”

“The usual?” Max asks, already climbing off the couch.

“Please.”

Max heads to the phone, detouring to drop her assignment off on the table, and calls the Pizza place.

“Thank you for callin’ surfer boy Pizza of Hawkins, this is Argyle, can I interest you in our hawaiian delight?”

“How many people do you actually have that get that?”

“Red!” Argyle says, a little more upbeat, “What’cha gettin’, my fellow tiny Californian?”

"Medium pepperoni pizza, please."

"With pineapple?"
Max fake gags, making Argyle laugh.
"Fine, fine, be boring!"

—

When Steve pulls up at family video, Mike is already waiting by the doors, his bike chained up in the rack.

"I'd have drove you, Wheels."

Mike shrugs, "My dad was extra grouchy this morning, so I left early anyway to grab breakfast before I got here."

Steve nods, unlocking the door as Mike holds out a donut bag to Max and Robin before shoving one in Steve's before he can protest, ducking in the store and heading to the break room to drop his bag off. 

Steve goes to scold Mike for buying him something, stopping in his tracks at how bad the store looks.
Nothing was filled, cleaned, or straightened last night and returns, or what he assumes are returns, are scattered all over one side of the counter.

Robin and Max make their way behind the counter to set their food down and clock in, Max clocking Mike in as well.

"Look, normally it isn't this bad," Steve says, glaring at the state of the store, "But Mark closed last night with Lily, so nothing got done, I guess."

Max peers into the overflowing box full of returns, letting out an impressed whistle.
"We probably need to do this first, right? Half the store is in this fuckin' box, Dad."

"That would be ideal," Steve sighs, tapping a button so the computer whorls to life, and picking up a tape to walk her through how to do it, "Type this number in, if it's late, confirm the late fee. If it's rewound, it can be immediately reshelved, if not, make a pile and we'll show you how to run the rewinder."

Max slowly nods, picking up a return to type the number Steve pointed out into the computer.
"And if this happens?"

Robin looks over, "Means someone was going to get it and didn't, just needs reshelved."

Max nods again, looking at the title and starting a comedy pile before picking up the next tape to enter it back into the system.
"So, no fee needed, just punch in that they returned it?"

"Yep!" Robin says, already heading to get cleaning supplies.

Max nods, sliding her smock on and claiming the office chair that's behind the counter that is not supposed to be. Steve figures Mark had it out there, and would add that to the list of things to talk to him about, but for now he leaves it there for her.

"So, what do I need to do, Red?"

Max points to her piles, "Put those up, please. I'll show you how to do this part in a second."

Mike resorts her piles, taking off to put them away while Max continues to enter them into the system.

Steve thanked whoever would listen that for a saturday morning, they were slow for some reason, giving him time so that he could go do paperwork that hadn’t gotten done the day before and left Robin in charge to make sure they wouldn’t goof off too much. 

They neither one seemed to mind, concocting a system rather quickly so Max wouldn’t have to stray very far from her chair and Mike didn’t have to stand in one place more than a few minutes. Steve makes the mental note to mention it to Eddie to see if he knows the reason he can't sit still, Mike reminding him a little too much of Eddie's fidgeting.

Robin unlocks the doors after she vacuums what looks to be popcorn out of the floor.
"Yell at me when someone needs to check out and I'll show you."

Max nods, too busy typing to verbally respond.

"Aunt Robs, how do I rewind these?" Mike waves a couple of tapes in the air for her to see, "We've hit that part of the tapes."

Robin huffs, heading around to set the machine up, walking Mike through how to do it.
"I'm gonna straighten the shelves if you guys are good, okay?"

"Yep," they both mumble, Max too focused on entering tapes and Mike rewinding them.

"Yell if you need me, runts."

The door chimes, and Mike barely looks up to greet the first customer, "Hi, welcome to family video, let us know if you need any assistance."

The woman hands him a tape with a smile, "Bringing that one back."

Mike nods, handing it to Max who enters it next.
"You're all good, ma'am, thank you."

the customer heads to wander the store, heading back up a few minutes later with a new release.

"Aunt Rob, assistance needed," Max yells, entering the woman's number to bring up her account as Robin heads behind the counter, "Right?"

"Yep, then just scan that and hit how many days."

Max nods, tapping at the keyboard before putting the tape in a bag.
"Two dollars, please."

"Oh, training?" She asks, handing over a five.

Robin nods, "Yep, first day for these two."

Max enters her cash, and gives back the change with a smile, "You've got it until Wednesday."

Robin watches Mike and Max float around each other at the counter, seamlessly ringing people out, sorting returns, and reshelving put backs as she makes her way back up front from checking in the back for candy stock to put up.

“Hey, who do they remind you of?”

Steve shrugs, poking his head out of the office to watch.
Max hits enter on the computer, handing off the return to Mike to sort.

“So, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted,” Mike says, double checking a stack of tapes Max sorted previously and handed off to him, “This December is mine and El’s like, what, second anniversary?”

Max nods, checking a return in and then stacking it with the to be rewound pile. “Sure, something like that.”

“And she said she doesn’t want a big deal made of it.”

Max stops abruptly to glare at Mike over her glasses, him utterly oblivious as he restacks the pile according to where he thinks they are in the aisle.
“But if I have learned anything from you, that’s totally a lie, right? Like I should save up for like, Enzo's and flowers, right?”

“Oh my god, you do listen!” Max snorts, “Correct, one hundred percent a lie, Wheeler.”

“So, Enzo’s and flowers? Right?"

Max hums as she checks in another return, shrugging. “I personally don’t love flowers, but that’s because I know they die too quickly. Has El even ever gotten flowers?”

Mike nods, “I brought her some in California, but they were just wild flowers.”

Max stops to ‘aww’, pouting her lip out. “That’s adorable! From here?”

Mike nods again, picking his stack up and heading off to the aisle.

“I think that’s a really good baseline!” Max yells after him, going back to her task at hand.

Steve shrugs, “No? Should they?”

Robin cuts her eyes at him, “Really? No one?”

Steve shrugs again.
“Oh, hey, remind me to run my date for Eds by you later.”

“Oh, yeah sure Stevie."

Steve goes back in the office to finish paperwork as Robin continues to watch the teens work before shrugging to herself and heading off to find busy work.

The door chimes and Max doesn’t bother to look up, brightly calling out ‘Welcome to family video! Let us know if you need any help!’ as she types another return into the system.

“Hey, Maxie! I did not know this was your place of employment!”

“Brooks, just because I am at work does not mean I will put up with you. Get your movies and move along. Next contestant on ‘test Max’s nerves’, please,” Max deadpans, putting the tape in her hand in the stack it belongs in and getting another one without looking up.

Robin looks up, slightly worried, from her self assigned task of straightening the cartoons as Derek leans across the counter.

“Fine, fine. Do you have the Labyrinth yet?”

“It came out in June,” Max says without missing a beat and not breaking her system of logging in returns, “You’d have a better chance of finding a date for Friday night than us having that on VHS yet.”

“Oh, well then in that case, you free Friday?” Derk gives her a grin, which she flat out ignores, hitting enter again and stacking the tape in the rewind pile before she grabs another one.

“Mm,” Max wrinkles her nose, “Unfortunately for you, I have plans with my boyfriend. I hear the cheerleaders are easy though.”
She finally looks up to offer him a fake smile before going back to her computer screen as Robin stifles a giggle and Mike appears from down the aisle.

“How does Sinclair put up with you?” Derek asks, sounding as annoyed as he looks.

Max shrugs, “More than half a brain cell surely does help, Brooks, beyond that you’d have to ask him. Be sure to add the part in about you asking me out, again.”

Mike snorts, heading up to slide a tape over the counter to Max, deliberately getting in Derek's space.
"Hey, alert the local petting zoo Max, their jackass got loose,” Mike scowls at Derek, prompting Robin to head back over to the office to get Steve just for comedic purposes. 

“Very funny, freak.”

“Oh, so original,” Max monotonically replies, “I wonder whoever taught you that insult?”

“Cute,” Mike snorts, “Anyway, where does this go?”

Max snorts out a humorless laugh, handing Mike a tape, “Both that and the one in your hand go in the section next to the romcoms.” 

“Seriously, no Labyrinth?”

Mike cuts his eyes to him, scowling. “Didn’t that movie just finish in theaters?”

“Yep,” Max states, handing him another tape, "That's the one me and El made you and Lucas take us to."

“Jesus, is it a requirement for jocks to be stupid?” Mike mumbles, heading towards the romcoms, “Lowering the whole store's IQ with that question, Brooks.”

“Eddie,” Steve states after watching the last of the exchange, “They remind me of Eddie.”

“Mike’s for sure giving off table walking rant vibes,” Robin agrees, “Max called him stupid earlier, too."

"Jesus, this kid just don't know when to stop, does he?"

"Nope," Robin states, shaking her head as Derek glares down the aisle after Mike.

"Okay, so what's a good alternative to it?"

Max shrugs, "Ask Robin, she'd have a better idea than me."

"But I'm asking you, beautiful."

Max ignores him, pointing towards a random aisle, "Try over there."

Derek huffs out a moody sigh, pushing himself off the counter to roam the store as Max takes a break from returns to spray cleaner directly where Derek had been leaning to clean it off. When she catches Steve giving her a weird look, she shrugs.
"I'm trying to dilute the overbearing smell of the cheap cologne he's wearing. It lingers."

"Continue," Steve states, ducking back in the office, "I'm almost done, sorry guys!"

"You're fine," Max and Mike both yell.
"Returns are almost done," Max adds.
"And this side of the store is fixed," Mike tacks on.

"Damn," Robin comments, "And we thought they were gonna be a headache."

—

“You are late!” Gareth hisses the second Eddie walks in the door, making him double check the time.

“I am not.”

“You are late!” Gareth insists, pointing at the clock Eddie had just checked, making him look a second time, questioning his ability to read the fucker at all. 

“Lies!” Eddie nearly yells as he clocks in, one minute early even, glaring at Gareth.

Kelly, their coworker whom they've both agreed looks like Madonna’s closet vomited all over scoffs out a laugh.

“Gare-bear has a hot date,” she announces, scandalized like it’s top secret information.
Gareth groans as Eddie grins.

“No shit, Gare-bear?”

“Only he won’t tell me who the lucky girl is!” Kelly practically whines,  draping herself over the counter to pout more in Gareth’s personal space, making him grimace and push away from the counter slightly.

Eddie leans over the counter to get directly in Gareth’s face, grin widening, “It’s not the cramps person, is it?”

Gareth feels a blush creeping up his neck, glaring at Eddie. “I’ll enact violence via Maxine, do not tempt me, Munson.”

Eddie throws his head back as he cackles.
“Oh, the cramps?” Kelly sits up to lean against the counter, grinning, albeit a lot less happy than Eddie, “I didn’t think Metalheads liked punks, Gare?”

Gareth looks conflicted on whether or not to give Kelly another lecture, not that it’d actually matter, before huffing.
“I made an exception for this one, can I go now?”

Kelly clicks her tongue, glancing over the store like she’s trying to find something he'd forgotten to do. He's half worried she will, even though he'd gotten all his stuff done ages ago, and started on Eddie's just out of pure boredom.

“Go, be free!” Eddie chuckles, pushing off the counter to start his tasks, “Have fun! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

"That's a pretty small list, Ed," Kelly says, throwing him a raised eyebrow, getting ignored all together by both of them.

Gareth darts out of the store faster than Eddie rushes in when he’s actually late, making him laugh. 

“Seriously, who is the cramps chick?” Kelly asks, following him out onto the sales floor as he heads to a display. 

Eddie laughs harder, shaking his head, “Don’t worry about it, Kel, it’s no one you know.”

“It’s that weird little sophomore Mayfield adopted, isn’t it?”

Eddie pauses to give her a confused look, “Who?”

Eddie wracks his brain to figure out if Max had announced any recent ‘adoptions’, deciding no, she had not. Which, both he and Steve had adamantly advised against doing such things, post vecna and all. Most of the jocks had graduated with him and the girls at the end of May they really needed to worry about, but the idea of Max, or hell Mike even, going out of their way to peacock the jocks made him uneasy. It was one thing for Max to take up for the guys when the jocks started shit, but a whole other thing to make herself a target for kids she barely knew. That was the kind of shit he pulled, usually ending in a bloody nose or worse, and Eddie honestly isn't sure Lucas' connections were enough to keep Max and her attitude out of any scuffles.

Kelly raises her eyebrow in a ‘no duh’ look, sidetracking Eddie with the clank of her oversized hoops as she tilts her head, “The little blonde chick that Mayfield abducted to the freak table? Like, Thursday?"

“Max is abducting people?” He clarifies, after a second of her staring at him.
Kelly over exaggeratedly nods her head, sidetracking him again as her earrings noisily jingle again.

"Guess she really does take after me, huh,” He mumbles, walking away from Kelly to get a box of tapes to stock as she growls in frustration, throwing her hands up and picks the box he’d already started working on up to finish. 

“Damn it, Munson!” she grumbles, shoving the tapes on the shelf.

—

Gareth silently thanks himself for the fact he decided to bring his battle vest with him, exchanging his work smock for it, and avoiding the need to venture all the way home before going to Will's, determined not to be late.

He speeds, just a little, over from the record shop, double checking his hair one last time in the rear view mirror before getting out and heading to the front door. 

Hopper’s car is home, making him even more nervous as he knocks on the door. 

El opens it, offering him a smile before turning to yell back into the house. “Will, Gareth’s here!” 

Hopper leans out of his chair to look out the door, cocking an eyebrow up at Gareth as he nervously smiles. “Have fun you two, curfews at ten,” Hopper finally says as Will makes his way out of the house. 

“Hey,” Will smiles, closing the door and forcing El to move her leering to the window until Joyce or Hopper one make her stop. “How was work?”

“Worked with Kelly,” Gareth shrugs, knowing that was enough information to get the point across as they head to the car. 

“The chick that refuses to acknowledge your existence at school?”

“That’s the one.”

“Oh, gross,” Will grimaces, climbing in the passenger seat. 

“Right? Can’t wait to hear the rumors she stirs up come monday.”

Gareth slides in, nerves still going crazy as he turns the ignition over. 

“So, uh, I know we said movies or something, but I wasn’t sure how you felt about horror? Hawkins being the epicenter of bullshit and all.” 

“Horrors fine,” Will chuckles, “Max has desensitized us all by now.”

“What’s her thing with that, anyway?” Gareth asks, pulling out of the driveway and heading towards downtown. 

“God only knows, Gare.” 

Gareth chuckles, pulling out of the driveway.
"At this point, I'm convinced he doesn't even understand that chick."

After another round of diner milkshakes and a shared basket of fries, they find themselves in the back row of the Hawkins movie theater, watching Friday the 13th part six. 

Will glances around, the theater is barely half full even on a saturday night since it's well into it's second week of showing, with most of the movie goers preoccupied with the movie and the others not paying them any mind. 

Before he can lose his new found streak of confidence, he leans closer to Gareth, quickly slipping his hand in Gareth’s and slotting their fingers together. His nerves get the best of him, forcing him to stare straight ahead when Gareth quietly lets out a surprised grunt and cuts his eyes to look at him. 

Gareth tightens his grip on Will’s hand, shifting closer to him until their shoulders bump. 

They stay like that til the credits roll, quickly dropping hands before the lights can come back up, looking around to double check no one caught them, everyone being too self involved to care. 

“We’ve got like, twenty minutes to get you home before Hopper has my ass,” Gareth whispers after checking his watch. 

Will just nods, getting up to lead them out of the theater. 

They make their way through the crowd and exit the building. Gareth lightly throws his arm around Will’s shoulders as they head towards the car, Will smiling. 

“So, think Jason finally died?”

Will snorts, “To quote Maxine… No, what would the fun be in that?”

“Well, speaking for Camp Crystal Lake, I mean…” Gareth chuckles, trailing off as he shrugs, making Will laugh as he opens the car door.

"Come on, what kind of good horror movie villain would that make him?"

As soon as they’re both in the car and pulling out of the space, Gareth shyly reaches back over for Will’s hand.

“I had a lot of fun,” Will quietly says, turning Gareth with a smile he returns. 

“Me too, Will.”

The short drive back to the Byers-Hopper’s is filled with quick looks from Gareth between his driving, and quiet laughter when he gets caught.
"What?"

"Nothing! I'm just trying to figure out if I have something on my face, popcorn maybe?" Will teases with a smile.

"I was unaware I needed a reason to check out my hot date," Gareth says, grinning when Will blushes.

Gareth parks his car in the Byers-Hopper's drive just shy if the ten minute early mark, putting it in park and moving to open his door.

“You don’t have to walk me to the door,” Will quietly says, opening his own door.

“I know.”

Will finds himself smiling bigger as he climbs out and meets Gareth in front of the car. Gareth slings his arm back around his shoulders as they walk up the sidewalk to the porch. 

“Um, I work the same schedule next Saturday if..?”

“Yes!” Will quickly responds before clearing his throat with a blush, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Gareth almost leans in, until the door swings open, making both boys jump apart.

Hopper at least looks a little bad at the fact he’d obviously interrupted something, pointedly looking everywhere but them. 

“Thanks for following curfew, Emerson.”

“Uh, no problem sir?” Gareth isn’t 100% sure if Hopper knows, and he has no intention of telling him if he doesn’t. He thinks Hopper’s at least aware of Steve and Eddie, most of the parents actually are on some level according to Max, but he isn’t sure how okay with it he is. At least he doesn’t seem mad about him and Will.

“I’ll see you later, Gare?” Will asks.

“Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m off Monday so I’ll probably end up wherever you guys go after school.” 

Will offers him a soft smile before disappearing into the house, “See you Monday, Gare.” 

“Bye,” Gareth calls, trying to back off the porch until Hopper clears his throat. 

“Max give you the shovel talk yet, Emerson?”

Gareth’s sure his face is either paler than he claims Max is, or bright red, trying to figure out how much Hopper knows, because he obviously knows something. 

“Not in so many words, sir, but this is Max we’re talking about. I’ve witnessed this woman plan a murder and then go on like nothing happened.”

“Enough with the sir,” Hopper grumbles, staring at him through narrowed eyes until he squirms slightly glancing around the porch. “Hops’ fine, kid. Your parents know?”

Gareth squirms more, shrugging. “Mom kinda does. Not about like, Will though,” he finally mumbles out, deciding it’d probably be better to not lie to the chief of police, after all.

Hopper nods, “Just wanted to let you know you’re always welcome here, kid. We know you got Steve’s, but it’s safe here, too.”

Gareth can’t bring himself to look up Hopper, staring at a crack in a board of the porch.

“You know of my step dad, I guess?” He quietly asks.

“Arrested him more than once at the hideout,” Hopper shrugs, leaning against the railing, “And Wayne makes a nice drinkin’ buddy. Us old geezers like to gossip.” 

Gareth snorts out a laugh, still staring at the warped board. “Sounds about right.”

Hopper pushes off the railing with a sigh, after a moment of Gareth refusing to make eye contact.
“Gonna tell you the same thing I told the other potheads in the family, don’t care if you smoke the shit kid, just don’t give it to Will and El and we won’t have any problems.” 

Gareth quickly looks up, wide eyed and nodding, “Sir - I mean Hop, I don’t - I wouldn’t… I don’t get high around them, S-Hop.”

Hopper tries to ward off his smile, nodding to Gareth’s car. “Get home, kid. Let me know if that step dad of yours starts any shit.”

Gareth nods, heading to his car as El sticks her head out the door.

“Momma Joyce said for me to tell you to stop scaring Will’s boyfriend, dad.”

“Eleven!” Will yells from somewhere in the house, making her giggle as she ducks back in and Hopper smirks as he follows her inside.

“Wasn’t scarin’ the poor kid, damn!”

“Honey, lighting is fixing to strike the house.”

“I wasn’t!” Hopper insists, shutting the door and heading to his chair, “I actually like that one!”

Joyce fondly rolls her eyes, “You like Mike, too, Hop, don’t even try.”

Hopper shrugs, hunting down the remote to change the channel, “I will deny that with every fiber of my being, Joyce.”

"Mhm," Joyce rolls her eyes, "Whatever you say, honey."

—

Dustin wasn’t quite sure what to expect when Wayne picked him up at eight am sharp, but for some reason this wasn’t it. 

They’re about an hours drive away from Hawkins, sat on the shore of some lake Dustin doesn’t know the name of, while Wayne shows him how to bait a hook. He decides it’s nice, even if they’ve yet to find anything to talk about outside of the usual small talk Claudia forces them to have.

“Think you’ve got it?”

“You want me to touch a worm?” Dustin asks, clearly appalled.

Wayne cackles, “You sound like Ed when I’d make him go fishin’. Yes, Dusty, you have to touch a worm.” 

Dustin wrinkles his nose but holds his hand out for one anyway, only scowling more when Wayne plops one into his hand with a grin.

Dustin tries his best to do what Wayne did, barely getting the worm to stay.

Wayne pats him on the back, “Pretty good for your first try, kid. Now, when you cast it out be very careful, hear me? I do not want a repeat of Eds’ first time fishin'.”

Dustin nods, cutting his eyes at Wayne with a grin, “What’d Ed do?”

“Hooked his own ass,” Wayne says between loud laughs, Dustin abruptly joining in, “Took me a good minute to stop laughing long enough to help him. He was mortified when I said I thought we'd have to go to the hospital and have some cute doctor unhook it for him."

“Does Steve know about this tidbit of information?” Dustin grins bigger.

Wayne shoots him a sly grin, shrugging, as he rears his pole back to cast it. “Now, how would I know a thing like that, Dusty?”

Dustin carefully mimics Wayne - making sure he doesn’t do the same thing Eddie did - as they fall back into silence while Wayne watches their lines bob out in the lake.

“How’d Hell club or whatever it is go the other day?” Wayne finally breaks the silence, slightly startling Dustin.

“Good. Eddie gave Max this dramatic handwritten note to read to us about who he’s handing DM down to.”

Wayne snorts, “Yeah, sounds like Ed. Why’d Max have to read it?”

“She’s the only one that wasn’t in the running for it I guess,” Dustin says, digging in the muck beside his chair for a rock, “It was weird seeing her try to get into it though.”

Wayne chuckles, “It’s Will, right?”

“No!” Dustin says a little too loudly, “Sorry.”

Wayne shrugs, unbothered, as he leans over to his through their ice chest for a drink. 

“It’s Gare,” Dustin says at a much lower volume, “Apparently Will didn’t want it this year.”

Wayne tsks, pulling his line in a little. 

“Oh! Max invited this new girl, Beth, to hellfire and she actually showed up.”

Wayne looks over at him, smiling slightly. “She like it?”

Dustin nods, continuing to dig in the muck, “She doesn’t know how to play, but she said it sounds fun. Beth’s cool, she’s a little quiet.”

“She a little quiet, or are you all a lot loud?”

Dustin stops digging for a second to look up at Wayne, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

Wayne chuckles, shaking his head.

“How is Max’s plan comin’ to set up Gare and Will, by the way?”

Dustin grins, “They had a date yesterday, haven’t really got to talk to either of them though. El radio'd us after they left and said Will was, and I quote, a box of nerves."

Wayne snorts, shaking his head again. “Wondered when those two were gonna stop dancing around each other.”

“Right! Can’t believe you noticed it too!”

"Hard not to when Gare never shuts up 'bout the kid," Wayne squints his eyes as his line bobs a little, "Feel like I know Will better than I know Ed at this point."

Dustin chuckles, shaking his head. "Will never shut up about Gareth, it was kind of annoying."

"Teenagers," Wayne says, smiling as he shakes his head.

They slip back into silence, Wayne half heartedly watching their lines.

After a while, Wayne reels his line in all the way, sighing at the missing worm before adding another and casting it back out.

“Might need to check yours too, kid.”

Dustin reels his line in, grimacing at the worm missing and holds his hand out for another one.

“Gimme your line, I’ll do it.”

Dustin frowns, holding his outstretched hand closer to Wayne, “No, I wanna do it.”

Wayne digs out another worm to give Dustin, "By all means, kid, have at it."

After at least an hour, and another missing worm later, Dustin sighs.

“I thought you caught fish when you went fishing?”

“Said we were goin’ fishing, didn’t say shit about goin’ catchin’, now did I?” Wayne chuckles, getting a small frown out of Dustin, making him laugh more.

“So, what’d your friends think of the break up?”

“Haven’t told them,” Dustin shrugs, “Besides Max. And I’m pretty sure she’s plotting revenge.”

“Knowin’ her, it’s already been plotted she just needed a reason.”

Dustin snorts as he nods. “Between her and El? They’ve got everything covered I’m sure.”

“Teenage girls, ready for anything except a bad hair day.”
Dustin laughs, smiling at Wayne as he chuckles at his own joke.
“So, why haven’t you told your other friends?”

Dustin shrugs, “Barely had the energy to tell Max. Only did ‘cause I snapped at her and felt bad for it.”

“Tell your friends, kid,” Wayne sighs, “Not like any of them can drive to Utah to kick her ass.”

“Well, Eddie is teaching Max to drive.”

“Blind leading the blind,” Wayne murmurs, reeling his line in a little, making Dustin chuckle.

"Mike said she isn't that bad, but don't tell her he said that."

"Those two still actin' like they can't stand each other, huh?"

Dustin shrugs, "I'm pretty sure all of us show affection in fucked up ways at this point, Wayne."

"Trauma does that to people, Dust." Wayne shrugs, "At least you hoodlums have each other." 

Dustin’s line pulls, making him look at Wayne slightly panicked.

“Reel it in, not too fast.”

Dustin does as he’s told, reeling in a fish and getting a pat on the back and a grin from Wayne.

“Good job, kid.”

—

“Why are there extra cars at our house?” Max grumbles, glaring at Wayne’s truck and Claudia’s car as Steve pulls in.

“Because the universe sensed you were grumpy and wanted to make it worse,” Steve says, getting a laugh out of Mike and another glare out of Max.

“And thought the rest of us needed to be punished,” Robin tacks on, making Max roll her eyes as she climbs out and slams her door, limping up to the front door.

The other three trail after her, yelling out their apologies as she ignores them.

Eddie meets them at the door, Max pushing past him to kick her shoes off.

“What’d Wheeler do to Gingersnap?”

“For once, I did not do it," Mike states, holding his arms up in surrender as he kicks his own shoes off and trails towards the living room.

Eddie gives him a look that says he doesn’t quite believe him as he pulls Steve in for a hug.
“How was work, babe?”

“Mark set out to annoy Max and succeeded,” Steve mumbles into Eddie’s shoulder, “And got a cane to the shin as a reward.”

Eddie hisses out an ‘ouch’.

Claudia quietly laughs, making Steve nervously pull away from Eddie long enough to see that she isn’t paying them an ounce of attention, and instead is watching out the patio doors.

“He deserved it,” Mike announces, “What’s goin’ on outside?”

“Wayne’s showin’ Dusty how to clean the fish they caught.”

“So that went well, I assume?” Steve asks, inadvertently bringing Claudia’s attention to him and Eddie, panicking for a moment.

Claudia excitedly nods, completely ignoring their arms around each other. “Ed told Wayne he could use your kitchen, but if you don’t want a houseful-”

Steve cuts Claudia off with a laugh, “I was tempted to wave a twenty at Max and tell her to order take out, Ma’am, as long as I don’t have to cook I don’t care.”

Claudia throws him a heatless glare, “How many times do I have to tell you it’s Claudia, Steve?”

He shrugs, “At least four more times.”

Max heads outside, grimacing at the mess momentarily.

“You comin’ to help, Red?”

She shakes her head with an absolutely disgusted expression as she watches Dustin descale a fish, “This seems like a you thing, not a me thing.”

Dustin scoffs, “You just don’t wanna get your hands dirty.”

Max shrugs, “My leg hurts, I’m fixing to go sit down.”

“Work too much for you?” Wayne asks, glancing over his shoulder as Max shakes her head.

“Weather.”

“Old woman,” Dustin snickers, getting a glare from Max.

“I’m not helping with Latin anymore,” Max threatens, heading back in the house as Dustin yells out apologies and Wayne throws his head back in a cackle.

“Tell Dusty to stop giving you a hard time!” Claudia yells, making Mike mumble out ‘good luck with that’.

“I’d have better luck telling Mike to stop being an ass.”

“What’d I do? Huh? I’ve been nothing but nice today!”

“You ate my last M&M.”

“That’s definitely considered being an ass,” Robin states, taking a seat on the couch next to Claudia, who nods along enthusiastically.  

“Never take the last of a woman’s candy, Mike,” Claudia agrees.

“She made me deal with Asshole McAsshat!” Mike argues, “The M&M was my restitution!”

“I didn’t make you do anything, could’ve said no.”

“She has a point,” Robin says.

“See!” Max says, digging through the cabinets before huffing, “Tall person, I need assistance.”

Mike rounds the corner before Steve or Eddie can, heading over to hand her the box of Mac n Cheese from the top shelf, holding it out of her reach at the last second. “This what you wanted?”

“Yes,” Max grumbles, “Now give it here!”

“Say please.”

Max glares at him, only making him grin.
“Fine, puh-lease ?”

“Could’ve gone without the sass, but I’ll take it,” Mike finally hands it over, getting an elbow to the side before he can run off.

“Maxine!” Mike yelps, trying to rear back to smack at her as she rushes around the kitchen island.

“I warned you not to fuck with me after you stole my candy, don’t say you didn’t see this coming.”

“You did not! You glared at me!”

“Not my fault you can’t read minds, Wheeler.”

Robin and Claudia both burst out in giggles watching them.

“Sometimes, they scare me.”

Steve nods, leaning his head against Eddie’s shoulder, “They’re like El and Will, but bitchier versions.”

“More like demonic versions,” Eddie mumbles, watching them chase each other through the kitchen over the elbow throwing, until Max’s hip collides with the counter and she yelps.

“Shit,” Mike hisses, sliding to a stop and nearly landing on his ass in the process, “Are you okay? You didn’t break anything did you?”

“No, I think I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“They just hated each other not five seconds ago…” Steve mumbles, making Eddie shake with silent laughter. 

Wayne pries the door open enough to lean his head in, “Red, Junior, pick out some sides for the fish.”

“I want mac n cheese!” Max says as Mike tries to cover her mouth, “Gross, no we don’t.”

“Mike, you like Mac n cheese,” Eddie sighs.

“Not when she suggests it.”

“Good talk,” Wayne simply nods, heading back outside, set to completely ignore them and the chaos he'd just created. 

“Then you pick something, too,” Steve says, getting a look of absolute disdain in response.

“When I asked you out, I didn’t think you came with more than one moody child, Steve.”

“You didn’t ask him out,” Mike says flatly, “your two moody children set you up and didn’t give you a choice in the matter, Dad.”

“I could’ve said no!”

“Yeah right,” Max and Mike both scoff, turning to head back to the cabinets to argue over their side options for dinner.

“We have seven moody children, babe,” Steve chuckles, “And you were very well aware when you agreed to the concert, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

“El isn’t moody!” Eddie argues, “She’s an angel, Steven, don’t lump her in with these troublemakers.”

“Six mody children and El,” Steve amends with a smile, pecking his cheek before heading into the kitchen to referee Mike and Max, only to have Eddie trail after him. “Okay, that’s it you two, either act your age or I’m picking for you.”

Claudia lightly laughs, looking away from Steve and Eddie to Robin, “He seems happy.”

Robin slowly nods, wide eyed and looking between Claudia and the kitchen. “Um, yeah, they both are."

“Good,” Claudia states, “I was tired of watchin’ that kid get his heart broke.”

Robin lets out a shaky exhale, nodding, “Me and you both, Mrs. Henderson.”

“Claudia, please,” She slightly scolds before she looks back at the kitchen at Steve trying to be stern with Mike, who is just scowling at him, obviously waiting for him to break. “How long before you think he’ll cave?”

“Point two seconds,” Robin giggles.

“Eddie, tell him!” Steve huffs, looking over his shoulder to Eddie as he points at Mike, who now looks surprised.

“Steve said no, stop acting like toddlers.”

“Dad!”

“Micheal!” Eddie mimicks back in the same whiney tone, shrugging.

—

Monday morning Hopper’s already running late when El announces she can’t find the right shoe to the pair she wants to wear and Will can’t find a shirt he likes, waltzing back in the kitchen for what feels like the fifth time to ask Hopper and Joyce what they thought as Hopper curses under his breath.

“It looks fine, Will! Now go get in the car!” Hopper huffs.

Will glances in the hallway mirror, snarling his nose. “I don’t like this one either.”

“Joyce, I love the kid, I do, but he didn’t spend that much time in the closet, he can’t be this picky.”

Joyce abruptly laughs, swatting at Hopper’s arm, “Oh, leave him alone, Jim. He just wants to look nice for Gare.”

She smiles over her coffee mug at him as he groans, scrubbing a hand down his face when the phone rings.

“I swear, if this is Argyle needing a ride again because Jon's using their car, he’s moving below Mike on the list!” Hopper grumbles, heading for the phone.

“There is no list,” Joyce calls with a giggle.

“There is a list, and Argyle is trying to take Mike’s spot!” Hopper mumbles to himself, picking the phone up.

“What?”

“Oh, uh,” Gareth stumbles out, not exactly expecting Hopper to be the person to answer the phone call. “Hi, Mr. Chief. Hopper. I was just uh, wondering if it was uh…”

Hopper sighs, “Spit it out, son.”

“Would it be okay if I drove Will and El to school today?” Gareth rushes out.

Hopper stays silent, leaning back to look down the hall, neither of the kids appearing out of their rooms yet.

“You can totally tell me no!” Gareth rambles, “This is super last minute, but I got off at like, eleven last night and didn’t want to call so late -”

“Yeah, kid,” Hopper cuts him off, “As long as they're not late, that’s fine with me.”

“They won’t be!”

Hopper chuckles, “Great, I’ll let them know.”

He doesn’t wait for a response before hanging up the phone and turning to Joyce.
“Emerson’s gonna take them, I’m leaving.”

Joyce quietly ‘awes’, smiling bigger than she was as Hopper shakes his head and heads down the hall.

“Will -”

“I’m coming, I’m sorry!”

“Gareth’s picking you two up, he just called.”

Will freezes, turning to look at Hopper. “What?”

“Gareth, your boyfriend? Yeah, he’s picking you two up. I’m leaving.”

“He isn’t…” Will starts, getting a smirk from Hopper and he turns to head to El’s room.

“El, Will’s boyfriend’s driving you, I’m leaving.”

“Found it!” El yells, waving a shoe around, not hearing a word Hopper said. 

Joyce sips her coffee at the table until Gareth knocks on the door five minutes after Hopper leaves.

She makes her way to the door, opening it with a smile. “Hey, Gare!”

“Hi, Mrs. Byers.”

“I’ll go get them, they should be ready unless El’s changed again,” She heads down the hall as Gareth opts to stay on the porch, lightly laughing.

A minute later, El and Will make their way outside, El beelining to the backdoor of Gareth’s car.
“Who gets to pick the music?”

“Will does.”

Joyce tries to hide her smile behind her coffee mug as El grimaces, mumbling ‘boyfriends’ under her breath with an eye roll as she gets in. 

“Hey, why’d you want to drive us?” Will asks, pointedly ignoring his sister's attitude as she waits in the backseat. 

Gareth shrugs, giving him a weird look. “Uh, ‘cause I wanted to see you? And according to El, she’s part of the package deal so…”

Joyce giggles, pushing Will out of the doorway. “See you later, bye! Love you!” She says as she shuts the door.

Will quietly says ‘oh’, smiling, as he follows Gareth to the car. 

Will wastes no time digging through Gareth’s tape collection as he pulls out of the driveway.
“Since when do you listen to the cramps or the clash?”

Gareth sheepishly shrugs, “I asked Max what kind of music you liked and that’s all we had at the shop yesterday.”

Will stares at Gareth for a second before smiling, “You bought music I like?”

“Well, I mean, yeah. I already knew a couple of bands from, you know, you buying them.”

“Why?”

“So you’d have music you liked in my car?” Gareth shrugs again, “I mean, I know you don’t love my music.”

Will smiles wider, putting the clash tape into the player, quietly saying 'thank you'.

“Boyfriends,” El mumbles again, shaking her head as she tries to bite back her smile.

El gets out as soon as Gareth pulls into his self claimed spot in the school lot and heads to meet the others, who’ve been watching the road and lot for Hopper’s cruiser.

“Did you just get out of Gare’s car?”

El nods, “He picked us up today.”

They all stare at El, waiting for her to continue explaining.

“What?”

“Are you gonna tell us why, or how, or maybe why?” Max asks.

“Oh!” El shrugs with a grin, “He called this morning and asked if he could drive us, ‘cause he wanted to see Will.”

“That’s grossly sweet,” Dustin announces.

The others murmur their agreements, all watching Gareth’s car waiting for them to get out, Dustin leaning comically over to the side to see.

They finally get out, walking up to the group side by side.
“What?” Gareth finally asks, looking at them weirdly.

They all stay quiet for a second, until Max rocks back on her heels with a shit eat grin that Gareth regularly sees Erica use on Lucas when she’s fixing to utterly destroy his ego.

“So, how was the movies?”

“Good,” Gareth says carefully, Will already blushing.

“Just good?” Max asks, turning her attention to Will, who blushes more.

“Yeah?”

“Nothing the group should be aware of?” Mike adds, “No new… Developments?”

Will whips his head around to El, hissing in an accusatory tone, “What did you tell him?”

El shrugs, smiling innocently, “I didn’t tell Mike anything, bubba. What is there to tell? Obviously not the handholding. That’s not an interesting development at all.”

Will looks torn before mortification and murder as he glares El down.

“Jesus christ,” Gareth mumbles, making Will snap his attention to him with a worried look.
“Fine, you little nosey assholes. We went on a date and did date things, happy?”

“Is there going to be a follow up date?” Max asks, sounding rather pleased.

“There is.”

El and Max look at each other, grinning, before Max offers her arm out to El, who takes it as they turn to head to their first class.
“Boyfriends!” They state just loud enough their group can hear them.

Will blushes more, if at all possible, and Gareth joins him.

“Ah, young love,” Mike says, getting a heated glare from both of them.

“Go to class Wheeler,” Gareth says, “Now.”

“To be continued at lunch, Emerson,” Dustin states as he, Lucas, and Mike all turn to head to their first class. 

“I hate our friends,” Will mumbles.

“To be fair, Lucas didn’t say anything.”

Will opens the door to head to class, turning back to look at Gareth, “Give it time, babe, he’s worse than Erica.”

Gareth snarls his nose, “There’s no way, I've met Erica."

“Oh, believe me, he is. Who do you think taught Erica all she knows?"
Gareth raises his eyebrows, Will just nods.
"He's a menace, Gare, believe me."

—

Their morning classes go by smoothly, minus the looks and discreetly delivered elbows in the halls to make both Will and Gareth blush.

“Have you seen Beth?” Dustin asks, shoving his Latin notebook in his bag.

“Uh, I saw her get off the bus when I was looking for El and Will, why?”

Dustin shrugs, “I just hadn’t seen her.”

Max raises an eyebrow at him, smirking.

“Do not, Maxine, I mean it.”

“Do not what, Dusty! I didn’t do anything!”

“Yeah,” Dustin huffs under his breath, “Yet.”

Max rolls her eyes, swinging her backpack over her shoulder and heads out of the room with the swarm of other people.
“I promised not to meddle, I’m not gonna! However, I will give pointers if you want them.”

“I don’t,” Dustin assures her as he gives her a hard stare, “Will has someone now, so the group seventh wheel got passed on to me.”

Max frowns, “That’s a shitty way to look at it.”
He shrugs, making her sigh.
“Fine, I’ll leave it alone, but I'm not happy about it.”

They maneuver around people to get to the cafeteria, Max shoving a jock away from Dustin before he can push him into the lockers.
“Don’t be a dick, McHale, no one likes those except your teammates!”

Dustin cuts his eyes at her, amused, “All his teammates, Max?”

“Don’t make me shove you in a locker, Henderson, I don’t have the energy.”

Dustin snickers as they walk in, beelining to their table to meet the others as Dustin glances around the table more than once.
“Where’s Beth?”

Mike and Will both glance at each other before turning to raise an eye brow at Dustin.
“I assume on her way, why?” Will asks, absentmindedly reaching over to steal a chip from Gareth.

“Dusty has made it his job to keep up with her, apparently,” Max sighs, digging in her bag to pull her out lunch Eddie handed her on the way out the door that morning. 

“Has he!” Mike grins, getting a glare from Dustin.

“Don't."

“We’ve been forbidden,” Max supplies, getting a frown of disappointment from Mike. 

"You told him?" Dustin hisses, giving Max a look of pure betrayal.

"We got bored working yesterday! We started talking, it came up! I didn't think it was a secret!"

"What's a secret?" El asks, happily taking a bite of Mike's sandwich he offers out to her.

Max looks at Dustin, waiting for approval.
Dustin sighs, slumping in his chair slightly, "Suzie and I broke up."

Every one goes quiet, until Mike kicks at him under the table. 
"Hey, we're all here for you, Dust."

“There she is,” Gareth says, nodding towards the back table, smacking Mike’s hand away from his food before handing another chip to Will as he gets a small nod of appreciation from Dustin for the topic change.

El turns around in her seat to see, frowning.
“Why didn’t she sit over here?”

Mike shrugs, shaking the sting out of his smacked hand.
“Probably heard the rumors over the weekend and decided we really are freaks.”

El stares for a few more seconds, making Gareth tap her on the shoulder.

“Hey, Ellie, leave her alone. If she doesn’t want to sit over here that’s fine.”

El barely turns to look at him before refocusing her gaze on Beth.
“No.”

“No?” Gareth asks, looking at Will who shrugs as El hops up from her seat and treks across the lunch room to take the empty seat next to Beth.

“Hi!”

Beth startles, looking up from her book.
“Oh, hi, Jane.”

El tilts her head to the side, staring at Beth for a second.
“You are still welcome at our table. If you want.”

Beth slowly looks over at the table and back to El.

“And at hellfire,” El tacks on with a smile.

Beth shoves her bookmark in her book, closing it.
“I don’t know how to play.”

El’s eyebrows pinch together in confusion, “So? Neither do I. Or Max, she just does whatever she wants. They can teach you. Or, you can just come hang out. The party needs more girls."

Beth stares at her blankly for a second before picking up her book and backpack, “I’ll come over there, but I’m just gonna read.”

El shrugs, “That’s fine! Dustin might annoy you about the book though. It’s the Mordor one, right?”

“One of them,” Beth laughs, “Lord of the rings.”

El waves her hand dismissively, getting up to head back to the table, “That’s what I said.”

“That’s - sure, Jane,” Beth decides against the argument, following El back to the table and taking the only seat open, between Dustin and Mike. 

El settles back into her seat, exchanging victorious smiles with Max as Will just shakes his head. Beth opens her book back up and goes back to reading, everyone understanding to leave her be as they go back to their usual homework discussions and teasing Will about his saturday night date - the other attendee not mentioned, even though Beth doesn’t appear to be paying them a bit of attention.

“Would you guys just leave him alone?” Gareth finally snaps, after Will turns an unholy shade of red.

“Come on, Gare, we’re just joking.” Mike slightly laughs.

“Enough is enough, Wheeler.”

Mike opens his mouth to argue as Beth shuts her book and slides it into her bag.
“Jokes are supposed to be funny, Kirk wannabe.”

Gareth and Max both cackle as Mike just stares at her as she gets out of her seat.

“I am not trying to look like Kirk!”

Beth flicks one of his stray curls as the bell rings, “Tell your hair that, Mikey.”

Mike looks around the table for help, Gareth and Max still laughing. El shrugs, reaching out to fix another stray curl, “She kinda has a point, babe.”

“Stop pouting and come on, or we’re all gonna be late for english,” Beth smirks, turning to head out of the cafeteria. 

“I like her,” Gareth announces, “She can stay.”

Mike glares at him before getting up and slinging his bag over his shoulder.
“One friend that doesn’t make fun of me, that’s all I want!”

“Have you met you, Mike?” Lucas asks, picking up both his and Max’s bags.

“This family sucks,” Mike announces, turning to follow Beth as the others loudly laugh.

Once they all make it to english, Beth takes the empty seat next to the group opposed from her usual seat across the classroom.
“Anyone get the answer to question three? I couldn’t find it.”

—

Higgins makes his way over to the group as they wait by the curb for Eddie, everyone tensing immediately.
“It’s been a good day,” Max grumbles, “What now?”

“Oh, good, you’re all here this time!” He says, after a quick headcount. 

Mike and Max both scowl at him, El blankly staring until he uncomfortably shifts.

“Anyway,” He clears his throat, “Maybe I wasn’t clear enough last week. It’s best if you do not wear the club shirts.”

Mike, Max and El all continue to stare, silently.

“And again, I ask are the other club shirts getting banned?”

“Mr. Emerson -”

“Yes or no,” Will cuts him off, “Is the math club getting told the same thing we are?”

“No, Mr. Byers. Because -”

“Interesting,” Lucas interrupts, “Well, we’ll think about it.”

El decides if this were a cartoon, Higgins would have steam coming out of his ears by the look he gives Lucas.

“It is not up for discussion -!”

“It obviously is if the other clubs aren’t getting the same treatment,” Max snips, turning away from Higgins and back to watching for Eddie, the others following suit - aside from Will and Gareth who both head off to Gareth’s car.

“See you guys at Steve’s!”

“This conversation is not over -!”

“Seems pretty over to me,” Will calls, slinging his backpack in the backseat before sliding in the passenger seat.

“Rides here,” Mike says, pointing at Eddie’s van pulling into the lot before Higgins can say anything else.

He stalks away, grumbling under his breath as he goes.

“Max! Hey, wait!” Beth yells, running up from the buses, dodging Higgins as she does, “Do you live anywhere near Fern drive?”

“That’s directly behind my house, why?”

“Can I please get a ride? If I have to share a bus with Derek one more day, I might spontaneously combust.”

Max cackles as Mike nods, “I doubt dad would even realize an extra person’s with us.”

“What’d dickhead do now?” Max asks, sliding the door to the van open.

“What hasn’t he done?” Beth scoffs, climbing in the back after Mike.

Max mumbles her agreement, climbing in after her.

Eddie does not notice the extra child, barely noticing the seating arrangement has changed and Lucas is up front instead of Max today. 

“We can drop you off at your place, Beth.”
Max looks up after a second of not getting a response, forehead scrunching in confusion as she follows Beth’s eyeline to whatever she’s staring at.

Eddie’s sun visors flipped down, The picture Lucas took at the rest stop on their road trip stuck to it along with another polaroid of him and Steve in a lounge chair in the backyard smiling at the kids that El snapped when she was playing with Max’s camera.
Max harshly inhales, kicking at the back of Lucas’ seat to his attention, nodding towards the visor. She's sure if she tries hard enough there's a perfectly normal 'roommate' explanation for both pictures, but nothing's coming to mind at this very second.
Lucas quickly reaches over to flip it closed, getting a moody glare from Eddie.

“What the fuck, Sinclair?”

Lucas helplessly nods towards the back seat, twice before Eddie glances back there.

“Oh. Beth, I presume?”

“Oh!” Beth shakes her head slightly, as if to clear it like an etch n sketch, “Yes. Nice to meet you, sorry, Max said I could get a ride.”

“She lives on the street right behind us,” Max interjects.

“No problem!” Eddie states, “But, maybe don’t tell your mom Eddie Munson drove you anywhere,” He adds with a forced laugh.

Beth gives the back of his head a weird look before shaking her head again, and opening her book. 

The kids all exchange nervous glances, waiting for Beth to say something.
She never does, until Eddie turns down her street.

“Blondie, where am I goin’?”

“Oh, it’s the white two story.”

“Oh, our backyards share a fence then. We’re the obnoxiously huge house,” Eddie shoots her a smile in the rearview, making her laugh.

“My sister wondered who the neighbors were back there.”

“Oh, why's that?” Mike asks, too quickly.

Beth shrugs, “She’s nosey, I guess. Do you have like, an older sister?”

“My aunt Robin,” Max answers, forcing a weak smile.

“That would be who she saw!” Beth laughs, oblivious to the kids’ worry. “Thanks for the ride, Max’s dad!”

Eddie laughs, “No problem, Max’s friend.”

Beth climbs over Max to get out, hurrying to the door as a woman close to Eddie and Steve’s age opens it, confused for all of two seconds as Beth explains before smiling and waving to Eddie before disappearing back inside the house.

“So, how open minded is your friend?”

The kids all chorus ‘We don’t know’. Eddie just nods, heading towards their house.

They all pile out to head inside, Gareth and Will already claiming their usual spot on the couch to work on homework, albeit a little closer today than normal.

"Movies went well I assume?" Eddie asks on his way through the living room.

"How'd you even know what we did, Ed?"

Eddie points between Max and El, "I live with one teenage gossip and the other radio's at ungodly hours of the night. I know everything, Emerson."

"Ew, you were spying on our conversation?" Max accuses, glaring at Eddie.

"It was two thirty in the morning, and you were being loud," Eddie says, unbothered, "Plus, the gossip was interesting. So, yes, I did spy just a little. So did Steve."

Gareth snorts out a laugh as Steve looks away from the TV.
"We, too, need to know which cheerleader is dating the starting forward. Can't believe he left Megan for Michelle."

Max rolls her eyes as Erica gasps comically loud, "Not Michelle!"

"I know!" Eddie says just as dramatic, making Lucas and Mike laugh.

—

Will nervously dials the record shop's number, hoping Kelly doesn’t answer it. He'd planned on doing this in person, but both Tuesday and Wednesday Gareth worked directly after school, so he guessed this is the universes way of saving him the embarassment.

“Hi, this is Gareth, how can I help you?” Gareth answers, sounding either annoyed or exhausted, maybe both as Kelly carries on in the background about some celebrity dating someone.

“Oh, thank god you answered.”

Hopper leans out of his chair to give Will a weird look as Joyce turns to do the same from the stove.

“Hey! What’s up, everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine! Perfect!”

El walks by, flicking Will in the ear, “Just ask him, dingus.”

“Jane Elizabeth!” Joyce scolds, making her shrug.

“Ask me what, babe?”

“If… I can borrow one of your hellfire shirts, since I’m the only one without. But if not, like, it’s fine!”

“I have an extra,” Will can hear the smile in Gareth’s voice, “I get off in an hour, I can run it by then if Hop won’t hate me?”

“He won’t,” Will states with a small laugh, “I’m pretty sure you’re his new favorite out of all his kids’ partners, actually.”

Gareth is silent for a second, “I’m above Nancy?”

Will laughs, “That’s what you got out of that?”

“Babe, I’ll see you later, but I just had a customer walk in.”

“Oh, shit, go! I’ll see you after while.”

“Bye,” Gareth says, getting out ‘Hi, what can -’ before the phone goes dead.

“It’s a school night, son, you’re not goin’ out.”

“He’s gonna bring me a shirt.”

Hopper leans out of his chair again, visibly very confused.
“Do you not have enough of those?”

“It’s a club shirt.”

Hopper forms an ‘oh’ with his mouth, settling back into his chair, “Like the monstrosity Mike gave El?”

“Yep!” El answers.

Hopper mumbles something no one catches directed at the news before he flips the channel, settling in to watch whatever he’d changed it to while Joyce finishes dinner. 

When Gareth knocks, just over an hour later, Will nearly trips over the rug bolting to the door before El, Hopper quietly laughing at the both of them.

“Hey!” Will says, opening the door.

“Hi Gare!” El calls from her reclaimed spot on the couch.

“Hey,” Gareth smiles, holding out the shirt, “You sure you want to join us rebels tomorrow?”

Hopper looks at El, who rolls her eyes with a sigh.
“We were told not to wear them.”

“I thought it was a school club?”

“It is,” Will answers sassily, “It’s because of Ed and spring break.”

Joyce makes her way into the living room scowling, “They’re singling out you guys at school?”

Will shrugs as Gareth forces a humorless laugh, “What else is new, Mrs. Byers?”

Joyce’s expression morphs into anger, “Who? The other kids?”

All three kids laugh at that.
“Max bullies them back, don’t worry,” Will manages to get out.

“It’s the faculty, actually. Most of the kids don’t care enough to.”

“Or they’re too scared of Max,” El chimes in.

“Faculty, huh?” Joyce asks, looking at Hopper who shrugs.

“If they aren’t breaking any rules then they can’t punish them, honey, doesn’t stop them from being assholes though.”

“We’ll see about that,” Joyce states, turning to head back in the kitchen, “Gare dinner’s almost ready if you want to stay!”

Gareth looks at Will, who smiles at him.
“Hopper promises not to bite, if you wanna stay.”

“Oh, uh, yeah sure.”

“Cool, I’m gonna - go, be right back!” Will says, rushing down the hall to put the shirt in his room while Gareth waits awkwardly by the door.

“You gonna stand there all night?” Hopper asks, “Or are you like a vampire, gotta be invited in?”

“Uh,” Gareth laughs, slowly heading to the couch, “Kinda?”

Hopper snorts, “You and Munson, both weird kids.”

“Side effects of being practically raised by Wayne and metal music,” Gareth jokes, getting a laugh out of Hopper.

After helping Will and El set the table, Gareth takes his seat by Will.
He half expects Hopper to interrogate him, but everyone stays quiet. 

“So, Gare, you’re a senior, right?” Joyce asks after a few minutes of silence.

Gareth nods, “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Plans for next year?”

Hopper quietly laughs, “Honey, let the kid eat.”

“Uh, not really. I’m trying to get a scholarship for the junior college Jon and Arg are going to, but if I don’t get it I’m kinda just screwed.”

“What’cha wanna go for?” Hopper asks, cutting off whatever question Joyce had lined up next.

Gareth mumbles out ‘music’, focusing his attention on his plate. Will looks between Hopper and Joyce, trying to gauge their reaction.

“Hm,” Hopper says after a beat, “You’re in uh, Ed’s band, right?”

Gareth nods, Will supplying the information that he plays drums.

“Drums,” Hopper nods, like he’d known that.

Joyce gives Hopper a look as he shrugs.

“You guys play out at the hideout, right?”

“Uh, used to. We’re looking for another member, our bass player ran after spring break.”

Hopper glances at El before looking back at Gareth, “Ask Mike. Karen mentioned he’s learning, last time I talked to her.”

Gareth turns to Will, who focuses on his dinner.
“This is great, mom.”

“You knew and didn’t tell me?”

“Max knew, too,” Will offers with a forced smile, “Mike swore us to secrecy until he thought he was good enough.”

“Well, I wasn’t sworn to shit,” Hopper says, shoving a fork full in his mouth as Joyce scolds him.

Joyce backs off, apparently content with his answers, sticking to questions about school and hellfire the rest of dinner.

El, hoping to embarrass Will, pushes her chair away from the table with a smile.
“I’ll clean up the table so Will can walk his boyfriend to his car.”

Hopper chuckles as Joyce full names her with a scowl.
“Thanks, sissy,” Will says with a smile, making her frown not getting her intended reaction as Will and Gareth head outside.

“How would you like it if Will did that to you, El!”

“He does,” El scoffs, picking up everyone's plates to take to the kitchen, “This is just payback.”

“Kids got a point.”

Joyce sighs, “Stop encouraging her, Jim.”

Hopper purses his lips before shaking his head, “That doesn’t sound like any fun.”

Joyce heads to the kitchen, shaking her head as she looks back over her shoulder to smile at Hopper. 

Will follows Gareth to his car, “Sorry, about my mom. She’s uh, overprotective?”

Gareth shrugs it off with a smile as he leans against his car, “Mine’s gonna be just as bad, Will. And, I mean, you’ve already met Ed and Wayne so, fair is fair.”

Will lightly laughs, “Yeah, true, I guess. Jon’s gonna be way worse than those two, though.”

Gareth shrugs again, “Worse than El remind me she has superpowers?”

“Yeah, maybe not that bad, actually,” Will laughs more.

Gareth glances at the house, ensuring El wasn’t hanging out of the door, before leaning in to kiss Will.

El makes her way back in to get the rest of the dishes, leaning over to watch Gareth and Will out of the window.

“El, leave your brother alone,” Hopper says, half annoyed.

“Dad!” She suddenly hisses, “Can I go outside?”

Hopper leans over to look outside as the two break apart, smiling.
“No you may not, go do the dishes and leave your brother alone.”

“But - Dad!”

“Go,” Hopper shoos her away as she huffs, heading back into the kitchen.

Hopper relocates to his chair, waiting for Will to come back in the house. 

When he finally does, Hopper stops him at the door.
“If I were you, I'd offer to do the dishes for your sister so she doesn’t tell your friends what just happened outside.”

“What?” He asks, smile slightly faltering.

He wordlessly points to the window as Will goes wide eyed.

“Shit, Hop, I’m sorry.”

Hopper snorts, finally turning his attention away from the TV. “I’d hurry before she tells your mom.”

Will rushes to the kitchen wide eyed and yelling El’s name as he goes, making Hopper quietly laugh.

—

Max and Dustin wait by the entrance for Steve and Gareth’s carloads as Max sneers at the cheer squad as they walk by, cutting their eyes at the hellfire shirts.

“Remind me to get Will a shirt,” Dustin off handedly says, watching Max flip off a jock that stared a little too long, “Would you stop egging them on? You’re gonna get us shoved in a trash can.”

“No one's gonna shove you in a trash can, Henderson.”

“It’s happened before, so I wouldn’t put it past them!”

Max diverts her attention to Dustin, “Someone forcibly put you in a trash can?”

“The same day Mike got shoved in a locker.”

“Oh, last year,” Max mumbles, “Thought I was fixing to have to kick someone's ass.”

Dustin rolls his eyes, slumping against the building as Steve pulls up to drop Lucas and Mike off.
“Why didn’t you act like this last year, huh?”

Max shrugs, “Didn’t feel like it.”

Dustin rolls his eyes again, huffing.

“Be good, call Wayne if you need picked up, Red. Me and Eds both have work.”

“I have no current plans of getting in trouble, dad.”

“Shirt says otherwise.” 

The group collectively shrugs, no one really caring at this point, honestly.

Max is waiting on the club to get banned on school grounds, honestly, and they already plan on moving it to Steve’s. After one hell of a fight from Eddie, Claudia, and Joyce, and maybe Karen, if Ted is annoying her enough that day to cause a scene, anyway. Eddie is already planning his arguments, she’s pretty sure, and El’s pretty sure Joyce is as well. Steve on the other hand, doesn’t know why they haven’t just moved already, even after Eddie’s hour long tirade about ‘the kids’ right to have the club on school property just like everyone else can, equality and shit’.

Max has taken to wearing her hand-me-down battle vest every day, and today is no different. Dustin and Lucas made no effort to change how they’d wear the club shirt from last year, but Mike has, apparently, taken to wearing a flannel over his which Max is nearly certain came straight out of El’s closet and a chain she knows came from Eddie.

“Gare’s here,” Dustin announces, nodding towards his usual spot in the student lot.

El climbs out of the back, dressed similarly to Max and Mike with a flannel over her shirt and doesn’t wait for Will or Gareth before trekking across the lot to the doors.

“Dad said to call him if we get in trouble, Momma Joyce read the handbook front to back twice last night and none of us are breaking any rules.”

“So did Eddie,” Max snorts out a laugh, “He even highlighted a few points to bring up in any parent teacher meetings.”

Steve shakes his head, smiling. “Overprotective mothers and rebellious metalheads, banning together to protect their young.”

“You’re saying Eddie doesn’t fit the description of an overprotective mother?” Mike asks, snickering with Lucas and El.

“Joyce broke into the Upside Down to save Will after being told to back off, I’d say she’s pretty metal,” Max adds.

“My point stands.”

“Oh my god,” Dustin mumbles, “Maxine look.”

Max starts to scold him on the usage of her full name, glancing up to see Will climbing out of the passenger seat in a hellfire shirt. She abandons her plans to scold, pointing towards them with her head tilted to the side, “Where’d he get that one?”

El smirks, looking over her shoulder, “Gareth brought it to him last night when he got off work.”

“Oh, I’m never letting him live this down,” Mike states, “He wanted to tease me about me and El sharing clothes and he goes and raids his boyfriend's closet!”

“Don’t start,” Will says, stepping on to the sidewalk, “El’s already been at it all morning.”

“I’m sorry, William, I happen to remember you saying something about how it’s weird to share clothes?” Max starts, anyway.

“Shut up now and I won’t say anything when you start wearing Lucas’ letterman jacket.”

Max opens her mouth to snark back, freezing momentarily to look at Lucas, “Can I wear your letterman?”

Lucas shrugs, “Do you want to? I was under the impression you were going for an anti-sports look at school.”

“Duh, of course I want to. That’s like, peak jock girlfriend status.”

Lucas smiles, making Will roll his eyes. “The letterman can join half my hoodies in your closet, babe.”

Mike and Dustin both theatrically gag as Steve chuckles, finally waving bye and pulling away from the curb. “Be good, you heathens.”

“Can we please go to class now?” Will begs, making Max and Mike wildly shake their heads.

“Oh no!” Max states, “You are not getting off this easy!”

“If we leave now, we’ll just start this back up at lunch,” Mike promises, making Will groan. 

“Leave him alone,” Gareth grumbles, getting Max’s and Mike’s raths turned on him.

“Oh, taking up for your cute little boyfriend, are you?” Max asks, making Gareth roll his eyes and push past her, shoulder checking her.

“Shut it, Munson.”

“I absolutely will not, Emerson!” Max sneers, trailing after him while El and Will fall in line behind them, shaking their heads. 

“See you two at lunch!” Mike calls, heading the opposite direction with Lucas and Dustin.

“I hate our friends,” Will mumbles.

“Sure you do, William,” El snorts.

—

Beth nearly runs into the guys as they leave their science class, quickly stuttering out an apology before looking up.

“It’s okay,” Mike shrugs, “We’re used to it.”

Beth lightly laughs, checking over her shoulder.
“Are any of you heading towards the other side of the building? I kinda pissed an upperclassman off in there.”

“Well, the person you’re looking for in that situation is actually Max,” Dustin jokes, “But I’m sure Lucas is the next best thing.”

Lucas shoots him a half hearted glare, “Excuse me, Dustybuns?”

“I said what I said!” Dustin states, slinging his arm around Beth’s shoulders like he does with El and Max to lead her towards the other side of the high school, “What class you headin’ to?”

“World history.”

Dustin slowly nods, “I think Will and Gare have that, but I can barely keep up with my own classes.”

Lucas and Mike trail behind them, Lucas grumbling as Mike half listens, highly amused at the situation.

“This classroom,” Beth says, pointing to the one Will and Gareth went in.
“Cool, see you at lunch?”

Beth tentatively nods, “Yeah.”

Lucas shoulder bumps Dustin as she walks off, “First off, Henderson, yeah you were right. secondly, I thought Max said you weren’t interested in Beth?”

Dustin cuts his eyes at Lucas, shoving him away, “I’m not, we’re friends.”

“Right,” Lucas nods, “Friends.”
He rushes down the hall, laughing, before Dustin can shove him again.
“Get back here, you asshole!”

“Nope!” Lucas yells, ducking in the classroom and rushing to his seat beside Max.

“What’d you do now?”

Lucas shoots her a grin, “I made Dustin mad.”

“Childish,” Max scolds, turning away from him to hide her smile.

“He started it!” Lucas claims as Dustin rushes in the room. 

“I did not, don’t listen to him, he lies!”

Max gives Dustin an unimpressed look before turning back to the front of the classroom, “Yes, because with your track record you’re an angel, Henderson.”

“I am!” Dustin insists, making Lucas and Max both laugh.

Dustin grumbles all through Algebra.
And Latin.
And on the way to the cafeteria.

“Why are you so upset?” Max finally snaps as she pushes open the doors, “What did Lucas do?”

“He was bein’ a dick!”

Max stares at him for a second, “More than usual, or?”

“I don’t like you either now,” Dustin states, heading to their table to sit by Beth as Max throws her arms in the air.

“I guess the feelings mutual, Henderson!”

“Hey,” Beth says once they sit down, pointing around to everyone's shirts, “So, how do I get one of those?”

“You sure you want one?” Mike asks, reaching over to steal one of Gareth’s chips - unsuccessfully, as Gareth smacks his hand with a glare.

Beth raises an eyebrow, “Should I not?”

Max notices her book is on the table, unopened, and realizes she hasn’t read during lunch since Monday after she felt comfortable enough to joke with Mike, nor has she read during the van rides home she keeps accepting.

“We got told not to wear them,” Dustin finally explains, “Twice, actually.”

Beth shrugs, “Okay, and? The chess club shirts are a lot uglier than those, so how do I get one?”

Everyone snickers, mumbling their agreements to that particular statement.

“I’ll get you one today,” Dustin says, “They’re hidden in the drama room.”

“Sweet,” Beth grins, resting her arms across her still unopened book, "So, I have home ec with all these seniors, right?"

Max nods, digging out her lunch. "All the cheerleaders looking for an easy a, right?"

"Well, they were being loud, per usual, and one of them kept talking about Eddie Munson, that's your dad, right?"

"Um," Max nearly chokes on her food, "Well, kinda? He's my legal guardians roommate."

"Same thing, anyway," Beth waves her hand dismissively, "They kept talking about how he's a satanist, and when I laughed, they warned me not to hang out with you guys?"
Mike goes to argue that statement, Beth talking over him, "And I may have made it worse by going 'no way was that what that bonfire dancing in the woods was for?', they didn't find it as funny as I did."

Max loudly laughs, "God, that's great. I threatened to sacrifice Derek last week when he wouldn't leave me alone."

Beth tilts her head to the side, looking obviously confused.
"I know he passes the 'virgin' checkmark with flying colors, but don't they also have to be like, pure of heart and shit?"

Max slows her chewing down to stare at Beth, "Holy shit, you're right, damn it."

"This, this right here," Mike motions around the table, "Is why half the town thinks our family are satanic witches."

Max shoots Mike a grin before extending her hand out across the table dramatically, reminding Mike and Dustin of Eddie when he's DMing, right as a group of upperclassmen walk past.
"Welcome to the coven, Beth."

Beth takes it with as much dramatics, making Mike roll his eyes.
"Why thank you, dearest Maxine."

Both girls bust out laughing at the looks the other students give them as Mike hangs his head with a sigh and Lucas and Dustin just look purely amused, chuckling along with them as Gareth and Will shake their heads with a smile.

—

After hellfire, Eddie makes the rounds to drop the kids off, Beth being the last one.

“Thanks for the ride, Eddie!” She starts to climb out of the van, pausing, “Oh, can I get a ride to school in the morning? My sister isn’t gonna be off in time and I think I was taken off the bus route.”

Eddie shrugs, “Sure, kiddo, we leave about seven fifteen.”

“Thanks!” Beth says again, climbing out of the van and rushing to her house as her sister opens to door to leave for work.

“Oh! Back already?”

Beth shrugs, walking into the house, “Dustin and Mike got in a fight over something in the game and annoyed Gareth, so he ended it early.”

Kate slowly nods, waving at Eddie as he drives off, “Makes total sense.”

Beth scoffs, “It would if you knew Mike and Dustin.”

“Is that Max’s dad?” She asks after a second of staring.

“Uh, one of them I think.”

Kate cuts her eyes to Beth, “Oh?”

Beth shrugs, “Max says they’re roommates. Steve and Eddie.”

Kate slightly smiles, nodding.
“Hm. Anyway, I’m on nights until monday, you’ll have to take the bus in the morning.”

“Eddie’s driving me.”

Kate nods again, heading out the door, “Even better, chick.”
She stops, looking back in the house, “B, I’m glad you finally have friends.”

Beth glances up from the fridge, giving Kate a smile.

“Okay, see you after school tomorrow,” Kate says, finally closing the door and heading to her car.

—

Steve shakes his head, glancing in the rearview mirror at Max as she all but vibrates in the backseat with excitement. He can't even comprehend how she's got that much energy after spending their entire morning shift rubbing the fact she and Eddie are going to a concert in Mike's face.

“I can’t believe Eddie’s taking you and not me!” Mike whines, for at least the fifth time since they’d gotten in the car after work.

Max grin widens, “Face it, baby wheels, I’m his favorite!”

“No you’re not!” He yells, making Steve wince, “That’s Gareth so stop talking shit!”

Max cackles, “Gare doesn’t count! He was Eddie’s friend long before we came along, Micheal! face it, dad likes me better.”

Mike opens his mouth to argue her statement as Steve clears his throat.
“Eddie does not like anyone better than anyone else, Maxine. He’s taking Max because I’m not going and it’s at a venue he isn’t familiar with, that can get packed on a saturday night.”

Max and Mike both roll their eyes, settling into the backseat as Robin stifles giggles.

Steve finally pulls into the drive, sighing with relief as the kids pile out and rush inside.

“That’s not the real reason, is it?”

Steve shakes his head. Robin bursts into laughter, getting out of the car and heads inside as Steve follows after her.

Eddie rushes down the stairs, ruffling Mike’s hair as he passes him to dramatically throw his arms around Steve to kiss him. 

“Gross,” Robin and Mike both grumble, side stepping them to head to the kitchen.

“Red’s changing then we’re gonna go.”

“Goodluck, she’s been excited all day.”

Eddie grins, kissing Steve again.
“Have fun with Robs, I left some joints on the dresser if you two wanna smoke.”

Steve smiles, tightening his arms around Eddie, “We probably won’t without you, but thanks baby.”

“I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready!” Max yells, rushing down the stairs with a brush in one hand and the makeup bag she shares with El in the other. “I’ll finish getting ready in the van!”

“You’re gonna wear makeup?” Mike asks, scowling at her.

“Uh, duh, it’s a concert.”

“Eds’ wearing eyeliner,” Steve states, leaning back to look at Eddie properly.

“I wanna wear eyeliner and go to a concert,” Mike grumbles, stalking back to the fridge for a snack.

“Next time, junior!” Eddie yells after him.

Max grabs the van keys and heads outside, “I’m getting in so I can do my eyeliner before you start driving!”

Steve grabs her arm, forcing her to turn around and give him a weird look.

“Did you change your earring out?”

Max proudly nods, “Dad helped me!”

“It’s safe, promise babe, we’re gonna change it back tomorrow before she goes to work.”

Steve shrugs, letting go of Max’s arm, “Just curious.”

Max rushes outside to start her makeup, hoping to finish the dangerous parts before Eddie has to start driving and she has to risk her eyes to do it. 

Eddie swings the drivers door open just as she finishes, tossing her eyeliner and mascara in the bag.

“Sorry, I was tellin’ Stevie bye.”

Max shrugs, “Figured, I wasn’t worried about it. We both know you’re gonna drive like a bat out of hell anyway.”

Eddie snorts out a humorless laugh at her analogy as he pulls out of the driveway. 

Max finishes her hair on the way there, between dictating the radio as she entertains Eddie by signing along. 

—

After one successful date and a dinner where Hopper didn't try to murder him, Gareth is a lot less nervous as he knocks on the Byers-Hopper's door after his Saturday shift for their second official date.

Hopper opens the door this time, waving him in without a word as he heads back to the living room to return to his seat on the couch next to Joyce.

Will appears from the hall, giving him a smile.
"Hey, this okay? Since you didn't want to tell me where we're going?"

"I'm allowed to have some sense of mystery, alright?"

Will cocks an eyebrow up, throwing Gareth a rather unimpressed look, "Not for a date, Gare."

At this point, Joyce isn't even trying to hide the fact she's watching the two of them, smiling to herself as Hopper is dead set on ignore them, like he does with Mike and El.

"You'll be fine," Gareth lightly laughs, "You ready?"

"Be back by ten," Hopper says, not looking away from the TV.

"Oh," Joyce rolls her eyes, "You can stay out until eleven, Will."
Hopper opens his mouth like he's about to argue with her before he snaps it shut and looks at them for a second before nodding.

"Fine, eleven, not a minute later."

"Eleven on the dot, Hopper," Gareth agrees, Hopper relaxes a little, turning his attention back to the TV just as Gareth catches him smile.

Will grabs his hand to lead him out of the house, waving to Hop and Joyce as they go.

"So, where's your usual door gremlin tonight?"

Will snorts out a laugh, shaking his head. 
"I'm telling her you said that."

"Rude."

Will shoots him as smile as Gareth opens the passenger door for him, "She and Mike are at the movies, I think. I wasn't really listening, but Mike was all butthurt Eddie didn't take him to the concert with Max."

Gareth shakes his head, heading around to get in the drivers seat, "How am I supposed to get the gossip if you don't listen to it, William?"

Will shrugs, "Ask Max? I'm sure she knows."

"Nah," Gareth shakes his head, "She's at that concert, doubt she even cares what Mike is doing right now."

"Probably not," Will agrees, laughing.

Gareth laughs as he pulls out of the drive, heading the opposite direction of the theater, heading to the bowling ally on the other side of town. 

Will raises his eyebrow, "Bowling, Gare?"

He shrugs, "Yeah, so what?"

"Trying to look at my ass or something?"

Gareth blushes as he smirks, "Added bonus?"

Will snorts out a laugh, shaking his head.

They get their shoes and lane, Gareth going to get set up while Will goes to get them nachos and a coke to share.

"Didn't think this would be considered 'metal', babe," Will snickers, sitting down their food as he watches Gareth struggle to pull his boots off.

"I'll have you know I used to come here all the time, thank you very much!"

"Sure, Gare, whatever you say."

Gareth throws him a heatless glare once he finally gets his boots off, shoving his feet into the rented shoes.
"You just wait, I'm gonna kick your ass at this, Will."

Will scoffs, tying the laces of his own rented shoes, "Bold words for someone who can't tie his shoes."

Gareth huffs, playfully rolling his eyes as he finishes tying them - barely - mumbling about how his boot laces are different, getting up to play his turn.

He rolls a gutter ball, twice. 

"Warming up, babe?" Will asks, smiling at Gareth.

"Exactly, giving you a change to catch up is all."

Will lightly laughs, getting up to get his bowling ball, "Right, chivalry and all?"

"Yeah, that!" Gareth laughs, taking his seat again and hijacking their drink as Will plays his turn.

They play two games, both of which Will wins in a landside while Gareth barely gets any points. 

"What was it you said?" Will asks, smiling as he finishes off their drink, "Was this you kicking my ass, Emerson?"

"I was being nice, Byers, I let you win, you see, for the sake of the date and all."

Will laughs, rolling his eyes as he playfully shoves Gareth.
"Whatever you say, babe."

Gareth laughs with him, picking up the rentals they'd already changed out of getting up to return them as Will cleans up the small mess they'd made in their lane.
"Shit, Will, it's already after ten."

Will glances at the clock, "Yeah, we probably need to go ahead and go..."

Will reaches out for Gareth's hand once they're in the car, happily smiling when Gareth takes it as they're pulling out of the bowling ally parking lot.

Will puts on the same Clash tape from earlier in the week as Gareth drives a little slower than usual to the house.

"What time do you get off tomorrow?"

Gareth shrugs, turning to take the longer way to Will's.
"Same time, I guess, why?"

"Do you wanna come over after you get off?" Will avoids eye contact, playing with Gareth's ring, "I'm third wheeling El and Mike for movie night after he gets off work."

"Spend time with you and annoy Mike? Hell yeah, sounds like a great Sunday night."

Will laughs, smiling at Gareth.
"I promised El not to be embarrassing."

"But did I promise such things?"

Will stares at him for a second before finally shaking his head, "I suppose not. You'd be free to annoy."

Gareth laughs, checking his watch with a sigh after he sees he doesn't have time to turn on the longer route there, turning onto Will's street.
"Hop's fine with it?"

"He said you could," Will nods, back to playing with Gareth's ring.

"Then it's a date," Gareth smiles, pulling into the driveway.

—

As Eddie parks, Max finally looks up from what she’s doing, turning to look at Eddie like he’s crazy.
“Dad, this is a bar.”

“I know.”

“I’m fifteen, I can’t go in a bar!”

Eddie shrugs, “I know a dude, it’s fine.”

Max raises her eyebrow, but silently climbs out of the van, straightening her ripped jeans and borrowed band shirt before following Eddie to the door.

“Munson!”

“Hey, man.”

Max stays a little too close to Eddie, peering inside the door until the bouncer sees her, pointing at her as he looks at Eddie.

“She’s my sister. Turns eighteen next month, swear.”

The bouncer doesn’t look amused, crossing his arms.
“Ed, man, come on now.”

Eddie holds out a baggie of something Max pointedly doesn’t look at, deciding that plausible deniability would go a long way in this case.

“Happy early birthday,” the bouncer says, tucking the baggie in his pocket as Eddie ushers Max inside.

“We never speak of this to Steve, right?”

“And that’s why you’re with me and Mike is not,” Eddie mumbles, leading her through the crowds of people to the front of the pit. 

Max grips the barrier, looking at Eddie out of the corner of her eye, “Is it safe for me to be this close?”

He shrugs, “Probably not, but it’s fine.”

She abruptly laughs, “Right, okay.”

Eddie disappears, making Max spin around in a circle before giving up and accepting her fate, ignoring the already drunks trying to talk to her. 

Eddie makes it back, wedging himself between her and another concert goer to hand her a water.
“Bar line was long, sorry snaps.”

She shrugs, “No big deal, I was making friends.”

Max nods to the dude next to Eddie when he gives her a funny look.
“Ah, concert friends. Yes. Glad to see you’re fitting right in.”

Max doesn’t know the band, but they’re loud and Eddie’s parked them right next to a speaker, so she knows she won’t hear shit come tomorrow, but she doesn’t have it in her to care, planning on rubbing the fact she's temporarily deaf in Mike's face as well.

Three songs into the set, someone bounces into Eddie from the half hearted mosh pit behind them.

He hands her what’s left of his beer. “Nothing that happens in the next ten minutes gets told to Steve,” he all but yells in her ear as she nods, “You can finish that, snaps.”

Before she could ask him to repeat that sentence, he was gone, apparently seeing someone he knows.

She looks back at his cup, maybe one sip of what she assumes is beer in it. Even when Susan had passed out with some of hers left she hadn’t thought to try it, and Lucas always told her it was gross when he drank it during spring break. But, she tips the cup up to swallow the rest of the beer anyway, grimacing and biting back a gag.
Lucas was right, shits disgusting.
She sits his cup in the floor by her feet, fully intending to make him go throw it away once he’s back.

Before she can re-establish her hold on the barrier, someone knocks into her. She tumbles forward slightly, turning to look behind her.
A chick that’s probably barely eighteen - if that - opens her mouth to apologize.

Max waves her off with a smile. 

The next few songs are just as loud, Max successfully ignoring the people behind her until someone tumbles into her, hard, sending her flying into the barrier with a hiss. 

Someone roughly shoves the person off her, yelling something she can’t really hear.

“Hey, Red, you good?” 

She turns to see a guy her age with bright green hair, and a battle vest that looks like a mix between Eddie and Gareth's in terms of bands. She nods, forcing a smile as she turns back to the band.

“Hey,” he leans into her space so she can hear him over the music, “You here alone?”

“My dad’s over there,” She automatically responds, throwing the guy a hard look.

He stares at her a second before cracking a smile.
“Just makin’ sure, Red. I’m Hawk, by the way.”

“Thanks, by the way,” Max responds with a smile. 

Hawk shrugs it off, opting to stay by her as he turns back to the band, having to push more than one person away from her.

Eddie makes his way back to them as the song ends, glaring at Hawk.
“Hey, fuck off man.”

“Ed, it’s cool.”

“You must be Red’s dad.”

Eddie flickers his eyes between them for a second before nodding, “Well we know who I am, but who the fuck are you?”

Max shoots him a look he ignores, staring down Hawk.

“Go by Hawk, sir. I go to Summerton south, if that helps,” His eyes flicker between Max and Eddie, almost waiting for Eddie to yell at him it seems.

Eddie internally cringes at ‘sir’, trying to remember where he’d heard that college before. After a solid five seconds of thinking, it hits him that it isn’t a college, but a high school a town over from Hawkins. Their rivals, if he remembers anything from Lucas and Steve’s ramblings he and Max pretend to listen to.

“How the hell you get in here, Hawk?”

He shyly shrugs, “My brother bartends here,” He points to the bar, Eddie glancing over.

He nods, turning back to the band as they start their next song, “Works for me, kid.”

—

It’s late by the time they make it out of the bar, Max already dragging by the time they make it to the van. 

She’s out before they’re outside city limits, softly snoring between the Dio songs playing out of the speakers.

Eddie glances at the clock once he puts the van in park in the driveway, nearly three am.
Max stirs as soon as the van has stopped moving.
“Hey, just give me a sec and I’ll carry you in, runt.”

“I gots’ it,” She mumbles, swinging the door open and slides out of the van, stumbling to the door.

“Steve’s gonna think I let her drink,” Eddie mumbles to himself as he shakes his head, getting out and following her to the door to unlock it. 

“Go straight to bed, kid.”

“If I make it past the couch,” She muses, heading for the stairs.

“You’re doin’ great, Snaps.”

He doesn’t get a response as she climbs the stairs, barely one at a time.

“You guys have fun?” Steve asks from the doorway to the kitchen, watching Max climb the stairs with a smile and offering out a half drunk bottle of beer.

Eddie nods, shutting the door to trail over to Steve with a smile.

“Robs already went to bed,” Steve states, “But I wanted to make sure you two got back okay.”

Eddie smiles wider, kissing Steve before taking the offered beer.
“We did, well, I doubt she’s gonna remember sleepwalking inside, actually.”

Steve chuckles, shaking his head.

“She made a friend though. Hawk, something.”

Steve raises an eyebrow, “Hawk?”

Eddie shrugs, “Probably a nickname. Nice kid, he’s a few months older than her.”

Steve takes the beer back after Eddie takes a drink, taking his own sip of it.

“Thought you two went to a bar?”

“I mean, she was there, wasn’t she?”

“Fair enough I guess.” 

“Eh,” Eddie shrugs, “I know his older brother, bartends there actually, I’m not too worried about it.”

“Oh, well, then that’s different I guess,” Steve says as he hands Eddie back the bottle, “Finish that so we can go to bed, babe.”

Eddie downs the rest of the bottle before tossing it in the trash can.
“What time do you guys have to be up for work?”

Steve shrugs, “Few hours.”

Eddie winces, giving Steve an apologetic look, “Max is gonna be a delight, ‘M sorry, sweetheart.”

“Mike's gonna be there for her to brag to all day, I’m not that worried about it.” 

Eddie chuckles as Steve pulls him towards the stairs.
They both try to look in Max’s room as quietly as possible, chuckling when they see her sprawled out on the bed with her boots and vest still on.

“I remember those days,” Eddie whispers as he clicks the door closed quietly.

“You mean, pre-April? Before you started crashing over here after shows and I wouldn’t let you just die upon arrival anymore?” Steve asks, amused, as they head to their room.

“Exactly,” Eddie nods, slipping his jacket off to drape over the desk chair and leaving a trail of other clothing to the bed before face planting into it while Steve follows him around, picking up after him. Putting his boots in the closet, hanging his jacket up and tossing his discarded jeans in the laundry basket.

“Be glad you’re cute, Munson.”

“So I’ve been told,” Eddie mumbles, giving Steve a sleepy smile he can’t help but return as he slides under the covers next to him.

Chapter Text

Steve slips down stairs, half tempted to just let Max miss their morning shift completely. It’s Sunday so they could use the help cleaning up after whatever shitstorm Saturday night left them, but Mike would probably cut it even if that meant he’d have to stay late to finish his manager duties instead of doing it during the day like he’d been able to do the last couple of weekends.

His thought process halts as he rounds the corner and is met by Max holding a coffee cup in one hand and scrubbing sleep out of her eyes with the other, work smock already on, and her post show hair piled in a bun on top of her head.
“Uh, good morning?”

“Morning, Robin’s already eating and I’m just going to eat at work.”

“Why are you up?” Steve blurts before he can stop himself.

Max turns to give him a weird look as she shoves a baggie of dry cereal in her bag next to what looks like a sandwich.
“Huh?”

“Why are you awake?” Steve asks again.
“Uh, I work today, mom. Remember? I set my alarm before we left last night.”

“Right,” Is all Steve can force out as he trails to the door behind Max. 

Before they can even back out of the drive, Max is asleep in the back seat, her travel mug full of coffee safely closed and wedged in between her and her bag. 

He almost feels bad as they pull into the Wheelers, watching Mike rush out with a half eaten muffin in his hands.
But opposed to the usual chaos that usually is their weekend commute, Mike mutely slides in beside Max. 

“Good morning.”

Steve gets a grunt in response, making him glance in the rearview mirror at Mike who's half asleep, glaring out of his window towards nothing.

“Today is gonna be a great shift,” Robin mumbles, sipping her coffee as Steve heads towards the store, mumbling out ‘ Absolutely ’. 

Before Steve can even process he needs to wake Max up, Mike flicks her ear as Steve parks in his usual spot.
“Hey, asswipe, we’re at work.”

“Do that again, I dare you,” Max huffs, flinging her door open and tumbling out to the pavement.

“I will,” Mike says following her lead, “Every time you crash at the counter.”

Max shoots him a scowl as they wait for Robin to unlock the doors.
“I’m not gonna crash, asshole.”

Mike scoffs, mumbling out a ‘yeah right’ as he makes his way inside and clocks them both in before holding his hand out to Max to take her lunch to the back before she sets up her chair and moves the phone closer, showing no signs whatsoever of planning on moving much today. 

Steve can’t even blame her, he’d gotten dragged to one show with Eddie since Vecna and the day after was pure hell. He’s pretty sure his ears ring even more than usual now, actually.

Mike plops the returns box down by her on his way by, so that she can start on the overflow of returns left again by the night crew while he and Robin straighten and clean, Robin loudly voicing her distaste for whoever closed, while Steve takes up residence in the office to finish paperwork.

Max barely gets half the box checked in and sorted before Mike wanders back up to the counter and boosts himself up to sit on it.

“So, was it fun?”

Max spins her stolen office chair around to face him, grinning. “Oh my god, Mike, it was amazing!”

Mike motions for her to continue, picking up a stack of tapes to sort for reshelving. Max wastes no time diving in to recount the previous night, blatantly ignoring Robin unlocking the doors and a customer or two straggling in.

“Okay, first off, the show was in a bar !” She whispers the last word, giggling so hard Mike barely hears her say it.

Mike snaps his attention to her, eyebrows shooting up. “A bar? Like, an actual bar ?” He hisses, looking around to make sure Steve isn’t in earshot.

Max quickly nods, “Uh huh! And we were right in front of the stage, like right in front! And and and !” Max excitedly waves her arms around, nearly smacking Mike as he barely dodges her. “Dad let me drink some of his beer.”

“Holy shit,” Mike whispers, “What’d it taste like?”

“Disgusting.”
The two share a look of equal parts disgust and disappointment as Max shivers off the memory of luke warm cheap beer from the night before.

“Think he’d take me next time?” Mike asks after a second.

Max shrugs, turning back towards the monitor to continue checking in tapes. “Maybe, besides the little mosh pit someone started, it was pretty kid friendly.”

Mike glances up from sorting the tapes to chuckle, “Yeah, I see how a bar is kid friendly, asswipe.”

“You’re just jealous dad likes me better, shithead,” Max snaps back, turning her head to smirk at Mike as he shakes his head, trying to keep from smiling.

The two work together in silence for a while, Max finishing the returns box while Mike periodically leaves to reshelve his piles, always coming back to sit on the counter. 

“So, what’d you end up doing last night?” Max asks, spinning her chair in a full circle.

“Oh, you know. Me and El went to a movie, then the usual. Ted yelled, I yelled back, Ted yelled more. Typical Saturday night at the Wheeler household.”

“Mm, What was this yelling’s topic this time?” Max asks as she tosses the now empty returns box back to its rightful place and goes on a hunt for something else to keep her busy.

Mike shrugs, picking at a chip in the counter. “Hellfire, me learning guitar, not cutting my hair.”

Max grumbles, turning back to the computer to double check the late list. “So, no new material.”

Mike scoffs, shaking his head and picking up the last stack of reshelves.
“These ready?”

“Yep,” Max confirms, ignoring the sudden topic change.

—

Wayne glances over his shoulder at the sound of tires on the loose rocks and busted pavement in front of the trailer, scrunching his brow in confusion at Dustin riding up on his bike.

“Dusty? Didn’t your mom tell ‘ya?” He yells, “Some asshole spray painted the trailer last night. Can’t go fishin’ today, kid.”

Dustin glances at the trailer, something he thinks is supposed to be a pentagram but the number of points is off - something Max and Eddie would’ve already pointed out - and what he thinks used to be ‘murderer’ and ‘satan’. He scoffs, shaking his head as he parks his bike in the grass.

“Kid, I’m sorry. I feel shitty havin' to cancel on 'ya -”

“I didn’t come over here to go fishing,” Dustin cuts in, slinging his backpack off to dig out the cleaner he and Max had used to get the same words off Eddie’s van right before school had gotten out in may. “I came over to help, duh.”

Wayne stares at him for a second as he makes his way to the side of the trailer beside wayne.
“Help?” He finally asks, slightly dumbfounded.

“Help,” Dustin confirms, “Got an extra rag?” 

A smile slowly makes its way onto Wayne’s face, “Uh, in the kitchen, kid.”

Dustin nods, taking off inside without another word to find a rag while Wayne goes back to scrubbing at another letter in ‘murderer’. 

Dustin starts scrubbing at ‘Satan’ once he’s back outside, both working in silence for a while. 

“Friend’s busy today?” Wayne finally asks, getting a confused glance from Dustin.
“I just mean, since you’re over here with me.”

“I didn’t check,” Dustin half way shrugs, still scrubbing at the second ‘a’, “I just dug out the cleaner and came over when mom told me this morning.”

Wayne stops completely to turn to Dustin, hand on his hip like Dustin’s seen him do with Eddie the one occasion he’d half assed scolded him. “You don’t have to help, kid.”

“I know,” Dustin states, “If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Mom didn’t make you?”

“Mom thinks I’m at Lucas’, I think,” Dustin shrugs again, huffing at a small trace of red still on the siding.

Wayne, at a slight loss, slowly nods and turns back to his own little section.

“Once we get this off, we’ll go pick up your mom and get dinner.”

“She got called in, one of the new girls quit or something,” Dustin says, “But I’m up for pizza and that football game you were talking about.”

“Fine,” Wayne chuckles, “But I’m not givin’ you any beer.”

“Lucas says it’s gross anyway.”

Wayne pauses for a second to make a mental note to ask Steve or Eddie about that .
“It is, stay away from it.”

“Noted,” Dustin says, quietly cheering as the red finally fades enough to not be noticeable, moving on to the last letter.

Wayne decides to climb up the ladder to get the top of the sad excuse for a pentagram while Dustin scrubs the lower half.
“They couldn’t even look up what they were drawing?” Dustin huffs, “How are they supposed to be threatening?”

“Son, they spelt murderer wrong.”

“Amateurs!” Dustin grumbles, putting extra effort into a section of the star.

“Jock brain, it’s a wonder they can tie their own shoes.”

Dustin pauses for a second before looking up at Wayne.
“Steve’s a jock.”

“Ex-jock,” Wayne corrects, “He grew out of it.”

Satisfied, Dustin returns to scrubbing.
“Yeah, now he’s got mom-brain.”

Wayne snorts out a laugh, nodding.
“Mother to seven shitheads and Eddie.”

“El isn’t a shithead,” Dustin corrects, “Six shitheads, El, and Eddie.”

Wayne chuckles, nodding.
“Right, kid.”

“Ever tell your friends you and whatsherface broke up?”

“Max did.”

“Tell them you have a giant crush on Beth?”

Dustin nearly chokes on air, whipping his head up to look at a smirking Wayne.
“I do not like Beth!”

“Blushin’ an awful lot for that statement to be true.”

“I - We’re friends! I like her as a friend!”

“So much so you plan on sneakin’ in to steal her one of them hellclub shirts.”

Dustin grumbles, turning back to the siding.

Wayne finishes his portion, climbing down the ladder to help Dustin with his. 

“Bit of advice,” Wayne says, “Don’t let your sisters get too close to her before you ask her out.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Let’s just say Eddie comes by his dramatics honestly.”

Dustin openly laughs as Wayne shakes his head.
“His mom made it a point to befriend every girl I liked. Sisters are a pain in the ass.”

“Eddie never talks about his mom,” Dustin says quietly after a second.

Wayne shrugs, “He was little when she passed. Eight maybe? Younger than Erica.”

“I thought he came to the trailer when he was older?”

Wayne scoffs, “His dad got him for a few years, three maybe, before that went to shit. He don’t talk about it much, so don’t ask.”

Dustin quickly nods, going back to the siding.

“Pisses me off, most of you kids got the shitty end of the parent stick.”

“Yeah,” Dustin mumbles. 

Wayne sideeye’s Dustin for a second before tossing his rag in the garbage.
“We can go fishin’ next weekend, kiddo.”

“Actually, there’s this new comic book store opening in Indy. I’m gonna see if Steve or Eddie can take me -”

“I can take ‘ya. Been meanin’ to go to Indy anyway for a part for the trailer. Saturday?” Wayne shrugs, bending over to pick up his bottle of cleaner. 

“Yeah,” Dustin smiles, “Saturday.” 

Wayne ruffles his hair, getting a discontent squawk from him.
“Come on, squirt, let's go order pizza and find the game.”

—

The morning goes smoother than Steve expects, Max only falling asleep at the front desk once - remedied rather quickly by Mike knocking her hand out from under her chin and running down an aisle to avoid punishment as Max yells expletives Steve didn’t know existed.

“Which one?” Mike rounds the corner for the fifth time since they’d finished their duties and customers had slowed, holding up Pretty in pink and 16 candles this time.

Max looks up from her book, studying both tapes for a second. “Both.”

Mike shrugs, tossing them onto the counter before wandering down a random aisle.

“No dork movies?”

“El gets enough of those on group movie nights.”

Max raises an eyebrow but doesn’t have time to respond before the door chimes.
She stuffs the tapes under the counter without looking at the door, “Hi, welcome to family video!”

“You look a lot more alive than Eddie does right now,” Erica comments as Lucas picks up her discarded book to read the synopsis.

“Pretty sure he had a coffee cup permanently attached to his hand,” Lucas adds.

“He slept more than me too,” Max huffs, rolling her chair over to the computer.

Lucas glances up, shooting Max a worried look, “Is your leg okay?”

Max shrugs, “It’s fine, I just don’t want to use my energy to walk.”

Lucas gives her a look that says he doesn’t quite believe her as Mike snorts obnoxiously from the aisle.
“Right, conserving energy,” Lucas says, unamused.

“Mike,” Erica yells, heading down the aisle to interrogate, “What happened to Max’s leg?”

“How the fuck would I know? I wasn’t there!”

Erica levels him with an unamused expression.

“Hey, I’m more scared of her than I am of you,” Mike states as he pushes past Erica.

“Micheal, don’t make me go get El.”

“The hell is El gonna do?” Mike scoffs, adding a movie to his stash under the counter.

“Uh, girlfriend it out of you, duh.”

Mike stares at Erica for a second before turning to Max, “Is that a thing?”

“Yes,” Lucas answers instead, “Yes it is.”

Mike slowly nods as he cuts his eyes between Lucas and Max, finally landing on Max, “And you’ve taught this to El?”

“Unfortunately I have.”

Mike turns his attention to Lucas, ignoring Max’s warning ‘ I’ll kill you ’ stare.
“Some guy tumbled into her from the moshpit.”

“You were in a mosh pit?” Lucas and Steve both ask, Lucas a little more appalled than Steve. Robin looks up, slightly surprised that Steve isn’t more worried.

“No,” Max carefully says, “Eddie was, I was just watching the concert.”

“ Eddie was?” Steve asks, now the same level of appalled as Lucas.

Max ignores him, continuing on.
“Some guy bumped into me and I fell into the barricade. I’m fine, Hawk pushed him back in. No harm, no foul.”

Mike takes his cue and leaves, ducking down an aisle and pulling Erica with him as she tries to ask follow up questions. 

“I’m sorry, who pushed him back?” Lucas asks, glancing between Max and Steve as if he’d know. 

“Just some guy I met at the show, don’t worry about it.”

“Some guy you’re on a first name basis with.”

“I don’t think Hawk is his real name,” Robin muses aloud, making Steve snicker. 

“Whatever,” Lucas huffs, “You still know the guy.”

Max shrugs, picking her book back up, “I mean, we hung out at the concert. Eddie knows his brother I guess.”

Lucas just stares at her.

“What?” Max lightly laughs, “He’s our age, he’s cool, so we hung out.”

“He’s cool,” Lucas flatly repeats.

“I mean, yeah?” Max shrugs, “He knew the band that was performing -”

“Right,” Lucas mumbles, turning towards the aisle Mike hauled Erica down.
“Did you find what you made me come here for?”

“Uh, no they’re out!” Erica yells, darting behind a shelf a few aisles over with Mike close behind her, making Steve and Robin quietly laugh.

“Then can we go?”

Erica pops out of a different aisle, “Sure, dingus.”

Mike and Max share a slightly confused look as Lucas shuffles outside with Erica - just as confused as they are - on his tail, turning around to offer Max a half hearted shrug.

—

Gareth waves to Hopper as he climbs out of the car.

“Movie night?” Hopper asks. 

Gareth nods, trailing up to the porch. “Yeah, Will asked me to come. He said -”

Hopper cuts him off mid-sentence with a wave, “I told him he could, Emerson.” 

Gareth slowly nods, stepping on to the porch, pressing his lips in a hard line, half way waiting for the invite inside.

“No pin vest today?”

“Battle vest,” He quickly corrects, “Um, it - It’s called a battle vest.”

“Battle vest,” Hopper mumbles, “El wants one, it’s nothing horrible is it?”

Gareth laughs, shaking his head. “Nah, it’s just our way of supporting our favorite bands, show that we listen to the music. It’s uh, kind of like wearing band merch all the time.”

Hopper stares at him for a second before nodding towards the door, “They’re both in there gettin’ snacks ready. Mike’s on his way from work I guess.”

“Right, good to see you, Hop,” Gareth says, heading towards the door.

“You and Ed can help her, right?”

Gareth pauses with his hand on the door knob, looking over his shoulder at Hopper.
“With a vest?”

Hopper nods, staring down the street watching for Mike.

“Uh, yeah, we both can. Ed’s probably the better choice though, he helps with mine.”

Hopper nods again, so Gareth heads in the house. 

El greets him with a wave as she sets down the popcorn bowls and disappears back to the kitchen. 

“Hey Janie,” He yells, taking up residence on one end of the couch.

It doesn’t take long for Will to wander in, nearly sitting in Gareth’s lap when he lands on the couch.

“How’d work go?”

“Eddie is a working equivalent to a zombie today.”

“So,” Will cracks a smile, “Every work day after a show?”

Gareth snorts out a laugh, nodding. “Exactly.”

El plops down on the other side of the couch with a package of twizzlers in hand. “Mike’s bringing the movie’s from work.”

“He need a ride? I can go get him.”

“Steve’s gonna drop him off,” She says, making herself comfortable on her end of the couch. 

“Oh, Janie, I almost forgot.”
Gareth digs the newest Bon Jovi cassette she'd asked him to hold once they'd gotten them, out of his pocket and tosses at her.

“It came in!” El happily yells, ripping off the cellophane wrapping.

“Yeah, our supplier finally got us some, just a week late.”

El looks up, slightly confused, “But I didn’t give you any money.”

Gareth shrugs, “Late birthday present kiddo, don’t worry about it.”

“But,” El tilts her head to the side, still confused, “I don’t have one of those.”

Gareth turns his attention to Will who simply shrugs.
“We just celebrate it around mine, we never found out exactly when hers is.”

Gareth’s eyebrows shoot up as the front door opens, “You never found it ? That’s bullshit, Will.”

“What’s bullshit?” Hopper asks, trailing in behind Mike.

“That El doesn’t know her birthday!”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” El shrugs, turning her attention back to the cassette tape.

Gareth looks at Mike who shares the same pissy expression he does.

“Don’t even get me started, Emerson,” Mike huffs, walking over to set the bag of tapes down by El. “There isn’t enough time for me to go into detail of why it’s as shitty as it is.”

Gareth ignores Hopper’s half confused expression as he turns back to El. “Do you want to celebrate with Will?”

“Don’t I have to?”

“ No !” Mike and Gareth both state, both startling Hopper with their tone.
“Just pick a day and we’ll go with it. To hell with the date we had to put for the school's paperwork,” Mike says, getting an over enthusiastic nod from Gareth and a stern ‘ yeah ’.

“Wait,” Hopper finally interjects, “He knows?”

El glances up from her cassette tape to look at Hopper, “Yeah, I told him before he asked Will out.”

Hopper slowly nods as he heads to the kitchen for another beer. “Well, I mean, they’re right. Just pick a day, I guess.” 

“Right now?”

Mike shrugs, picking up the bag of tapes to empty it on the couch by El, “No, you can think about it. What are we watching first, babe?”

Hopper passes back through on his way outside, new beer in hand, scowling.

Gareth and Will both try to hide their laughter as Mike and El ignore him while El sifts through the movies.

“Was that because I know or -?”

“Mom got on to him for not being as strict with us as he is with them and he promised to back off some.”

Gareth quickly nods, “Ah, so not me, just Mike.”

“In general, yes.”

“This one!” El yells, holding up pretty in pink.

“Max said she likes this one,” Mike says, taking the tape to put in the VCR, “Sorry, Gare, Will didn’t tell me you were gonna come.”

Gareth picks through the other options, chuckling. “No nerd movies tonight?”

Mike gives him a strange look as he piles the other movies on the coffee table and sits next to El, “I never get nerd movies when I come over here for movie nights.”

“You hate these though,” Will points out.

Mike shrugs, slinging his arm around El’s shoulders. “So?”

—

Eddie watches Max continue to stare at the phone, chewing another nail down. 

“Is it gonna do tricks?” Eddie finally mumbles, getting Steve's attention.

Steve shrugs, glancing up to look at Max.
“Think Lucas is supposed to call her.”

“That would explain it,” Eddie mumbles, redirecting his attention back to the book Steve’s holding, and going back to reading The Shining out loud. 

Max finally gets up and heads to the phone, dialing the Sinclair’s number again.

“Sinclair’s, this is Sue speaking!”

“Hi, Mrs. Sinclair,” Max says, trying to sound overly apologetic, “Um, is Lucas there?”

“Oh! Max! Hey honey, let me go see!”

Max impatiently waits as she hears the phone get set down and Sue heads across the house. 

A few seconds later, the phone picks back up.

“Max?” 

“Hey, I just wanted to call and see what happened with you at family video today.”

“Nothing,” Lucas scoffs, “I just have a ton of homework to finish, Erica made me go with her.”

Max resumes chewing on her nail, “Oh, okay. I thought we got everything done on friday -”

“We don’t have every class together, Max.”

“Right,” Max mumbles, “I know that.”

Steve and Eddie look up, watching Max from across the room both highly confused.

“It just seemed like me meeting Hawk kind of bothered you -”

“It didn’t, okay? I’ve just got homework to finish and I should’ve been practicing when I was with Erica.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

“Look, I’m sorry, Max,” Lucas huffs, “But I have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Right, Okay, I’ll talk to you then.”

Lucas mumbles out ‘bye’ just before the phone disconnects.

—

Dustin double checks around a corner as Max picks the lock on the storage room door.

“Clear still.”

“I thought you were gonna do this last week,” Max huffs, grumbling that the lock is being stubborn as she tries again to pop the lock.

“Yeah, well,” Dustin shrugs, “They moved the shirts here and it was locked and you were busy.”

“Remind me to teach you other delinquents how to do this.”

 Dustin scoffs out a ‘right’ as he nods, taking a step back to check again as Max finally gets the lock to click open and swings the door in.

“Bingo,” She happily says, waltzing inside with Dustin behind her, “Okay, go steal Beth a shirt.”

Dustin beelines across the room to dig through old stuff while Max keeps watch, and snoops around other clubs' stuff in the storage room.

“How’d you get Eddie to bring us so early anyway?” Dustin asks after finally digging out what was left of the Hellfire shirts.

“Told him the truth,” Max shrugs, “He was on board at ‘break into the school’, the rest was just icing on the cake. Oh!”
She holds up a school band shirt from the 70’s, “Think they’ll miss it?”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t even know that still exists.”

Max shoves it in her backpack with a grin, “Then mine it is. Can we go now?”

Dustin waves the handful of shirts at her as he walks by, “Lets go before we get caught.”

Max slings her backpack over her shoulder and clicks the lock back before shutting the door.
“We never tell Steve,” They state at the same time before bursting into giggles and heading to their lockers to dump off the newly acquired shirts.

“Where’d you learn that anyway?” Dustin asks, shoving his locker shut knowing full well he’d get attacked by shirts the next time he opens it.

“Billy.”

“Why’d I even ask,” Dustin mumbles, turning to head outside while Max trails behind him.

“Well, kinda?” Max shrugs, continuing on with her answer,  “One of his friends taught me.”

“Billy had friends?” Dustin jokingly asks before he can stop himself, turning back to look at Max with a deer in the headlights expression. 

Much to Dustin’s relief, Max just laughs.
“Not really, but that’s what he called them.”
She pushes past Dustin to swing the door open to head outside and sit on the curb, leaving Dustin standing in the hallway confused.

“Wait, what? Max!”

Once Dustin makes it outside, Max just smiles at him and doesn’t elaborate, and he knows he wouldn’t get much of an explanation anyway. 

“So,” Max says, “How was fishing round two?”

“Didn’t go,” Dustin says, dropping onto the curb next to her.

“Wayne canceled on you?”

Dustin shakes his head, “Some idiots spray painted the trailer so we spent the morning cleaning it up instead, then we watched the football game.”

“You like football?” Max asks, cutting her eyes to Dustin in disbelief.

“Not a bit,” Dustin states, making her laugh, “Still don’t understand why they want to kill each other over a ball.”

Before she can catch her breath and verbally respond, Steve pulls up to let Mike and Lucas out.

“You are in too good of a mood for a Monday morning,” Mike comments, giving them a weird look as he shuts the car door. 

“Dustin spent Sunday watching Football with Wayne.”

That startles a laugh out of Mike as well, turning to say something to Lucas who stalks past the group and into the school.
Mike signs as Dustin glances between them, confused.
“Still mad at you?” Mike asks.

Max half heartedly shrugs, “Erica picked up the first two times I called last night, and then I finally talked to him and he just seemed weird.”

“Wait, what’d I miss?” Dustin asks, craning his neck to watch Lucas.

“Lucas is being an ass,” Mike supplies as he helps Max off the curb.

“He’s mad I made a friend at the concert,” Max adds.

“He’s - what?” Dustin asks again, clearly confused still.

Max shrugs as Mike rolls his eyes, scowling.
“He’s jealous of Hawk I think.”

Dustin abruptly laughs, “He thinks a dude named Hawk is gonna steal his girlfriend?”

“That’s what I said,” Mike mumbles, walking to the edge of the sidewalk to hold out his hand for El as she skips up. 

“Today’s gonna be fun,” Dustin mumbles to himself as Max joins Gareth and Will to walk inside - Lucas apparently already having booked it to their classroom. 

~

Mike spots Beth as soon as they exit their first class, nudging Dustin.
“Beth,” He simply states as he nods towards her.

Dustin whips his head around to find her, waiting patiently in the hall, making Mike laugh. Lucas snickers before heading off to Geometry, leaving Dustin behind. 

“Beth! Hey!” 

Mike elbows Dustin again, getting a sharp glare in return. 

“Hey guys!” Beth makes her way over to them, falling in step as they head across the building for their next classes. 

“Oh, I uh, finally found the Hellfire shirts,” Dustin says, getting a highly amused look from Mike he ignores, “If you still want one.”

“Yes!” Beth excitedly says, “I mean, yeah, I do.”

“We didn’t see you get dropped off,” Mike says, saving Dustin from whatever embarrassing sentence that was going to follow that . 

“Oh, I got dropped off way early,” Beth explains.
Both guys look at her, waiting for her to continue.
"My last school was behind what here teaches, so I came in to ask for some help in Algebra.”

Mike nods as Dustin quickly says, “I can tutor you.”
Mike cuts his eyes at him, smirking.
“I took it last year, passed with flying colors.”

“Did you?” Mike asks, with just a hint of teasing. 

“I did, thank you very much, Micheal,” Dustin spits out, turning to give Mike a warning look.

“Seriously?” Beth asks, ignoring Mike, “I mean, if you can that’d honestly be great! Mr. Angeles wasn’t much help anyway.”

Both guys scoff, nodding in agreement.
“Yeah, he’s an ass,” Mike voices.

“Yeah, totally. Uh, we usually all hang out at Max’s after school, I can help you then?”

Mike cuts his eyes again, barely containing himself wanting to run and tell Max.

“I can’t today, but I probably can the rest of the week?”

“Yeah, that works!” Dustin quickly agrees as they reach Beth’s classroom.

She smiles and heads inside, leaving Dustin alone with Mike who is grinning like the Cheshire cat.

“Don’t.”

“Oh, I so am,” Mike states before turning to head down the hall to he and El’s class room while Dustin groans in defeat.

Dustin heads to Geometry, slightly shocked to find Lucas sitting across the room from Max, with the other sophomore jocks in the class, as he takes his usual seat.

“Hey sissy.”

Max barely offers a half assed wave in his direction.

Dustin glances over his shoulder to glare at Lucas, who pointedly ignores him. 

If looks could kill, Dustin would’ve put Lucas six feet under by the time Geometry is said and done. Lucas never acknowledges him, but their fellow sophomore saw him more than once, not to subtly nudging Lucas to whisper something. 

“Dust, I missed some notes -”

Dustin hands his notes over before she can finish, “I’ll get them back later Sis, don’t worry about it.”

Max shoots him a small smile as she tucks them inside her notebook, “Thanks.”

Dustin stands up, slinging his own backpack over his shoulder before grabbing Max’s as well, “To Latin?”

“To Latin.”

Dustin follows her out of the classroom.

“So, before Mike tells you, I offered to tutor Beth.”

Max glances over her shoulder, smirking.
“Oh, do tell Dusty.”

“I’m never gonna live this down,” Dustin mumbles.

~

Max watches Lucas walk in the cafeteria and head to the jock table. Before she can really react, Mike scoffs across from her.

“What’s Sinclair’s problem?” Beth asks, leaning over to see around Dustin, “He’s been acting weird all day.”

Gareth’s eyebrows shoot up as he follows her eyeline to stare at Lucas as well. 

“He’s stressed out,” Max sighs, “Don’t worry about it.”

El and Will both snarl their nose in his general direction before returning to their conversation. 

“Huh,” Beth muses, “Anyway.”

“So,” Max says, desperate for a topic change, “Did Kate bring you to school today?”

Beth quickly nods, “Yeah, after she got off shift.”

Dustin turns to give her a weird look.

“She’s graveyard at the hospital,” Beth supplies. 

Dustin nods, “Oh, duh.”

“Why didn’t your mom drive you or something?” Will asks, stealing something off Gareth’s lunch plate as Max tries furiously to kick at him under the table.

“Oh, um, Kate has custody of me. Both of my parents died last year, that’s actually one reason why I had to transfer.”

“Oh,” Will says, looking at Max for assistance.

“Way to go, shithead,” She offers instead, making Will glare at her.

Beth lightly laughs, “No, it’s fine, it was bound to come up at some point.”

“What’s the other reason?” Mike asks, ever so tactless, around a bite of his sandwich.

“ Mike ,” Max hisses, kicking his shin.

“Oh, Kate went through this really bad breakup and it was just easier to move. They worked together so, it just made sense for her to bail and take the job here.”

“Beth, I am so sorry about my boneheaded brother,” Max says, “Ignore him.”

Beth just laughs, shrugging, "It's fine, Max, really."

“Why’s Mike a bonehead?” Lucas asks, taking the seat closer to Will than Max.

“When is he not?” Gareth asks, offering Will the rest of his lunch as he actively smacks Lucas’ hand away from it.

Lucas hisses at the sting, shaking his hand out, “Good point, I guess.”

Beth cuts her eyes between Lucas and the now empty spot he usually takes.
“Most guys are.”

Dustin smirks at Lucas’ confused look as Mike chuckles.

—

Beth waves and starts her five minute walk home as soon as Eddie drops the group off at Max’s, causing Dustin to pout which Erica sees as a weakness immediately. 

“What’s this one’s name for you?” Erica asks as soon as they’re settled inside. 

Dustin ignores her, steadily writing his short essay over the first chapter of Romeo and Juliet for english.

“It’s something better than Dustybuns, right?”

“Sissy, enough,” Max tuts, tapping her finger on the papers in front of Erica at the table, “Do your homework.”

Erica lets out an annoyed huff before purposely dragging her pencil across the paper so it’d screech.

“Thank you,” Max says unbothered, too used to Billy doing the same thing when he was young and Susan redirected him to his work.

Erica gives her a less than impressed side eye before actually working on her papers, making Gareth snicker from his spot in the living room floor next to Will. 

“Oh,” Gareth says, “How was Saturday?”

Lucas rolls his eyes, prompting a scowl from Mike in his direction.

“Could ask you the same question,” Max shoots back, smirking at him.

“I asked first,” He retorts, making Max laugh.

“It was good,” She says, “Got to see Eddie in his element, met some interesting people, still can barely hear.”

Gareth cackles, cut off from whatever he was going to say by Lucas.
“Oh, just interesting?”

Max narrows her eyes at him across the table, “I guess?”

“Hm,” Lucas hums, not looking up from his own essay.

Gareth clears his throat, “Yeah, Ed at a show is a different level of crazy, huh, sis?”

“Yeah,” Max weakly agrees.

Mike glares down Lucas for a second before turning his attention to Gareth, “She caught a guitar pick.”

“Holy fuck!” Gareth exclaims, “That’s fuckin’ awesome red!”

“So,” Max says, “ Your Saturday night?”

Both Will and Gareth blush.
“It was good,” Gareth mumbles.

Mike and Max both fix them with cocky looks.
“Oh?” Mike says, “Do elaborate.”

Gareth flips them both off.

Max theatrically gasps, “Gareth Leon! There are children present!”

“Don’t middle name me!” Gareth yells, tacking on, “Maxine Ruth!”

“Holy shit,” Mike cackles out.

“Shut up, Theodore,” Max snaps, making Will laugh and Mike hones his stare in on Will.

“I didn’t say shit ,” Will states, quickly going back to his homework.

“So,” El says a little too loudly, trying to reign them back in, “Who is all on the list to skip the English test Wednesday?”

Max happily shouts ‘Me!’ as all the boys grumble. 

—

“Good morning, Miss Katie!” Claudia calls as Kate walks into the nurses station, tying her hair in a bun just before their graveyard shift starts.

“Good morning,” Kate replies, sitting her stuff down before turning to Claudia, “Claudia, can I ask you something?”

“Mhm!” Claudia hums, organizing charts without looking away. 

“You have a kid Beth’s age, right?”

Claudia nods, “Dustin, yep.”

“Dustin? Is he the one that hangs out with Max Mayfield?”

Claudia pauses, finally looking up at Kate.
“Uh huh. Max is Wayne’s granddaughter, actually.”

“Oh! So, your Dustin, is the Dustin from Hellfire?”

Claudia nods, shooting Kate a smile. “I didn’t know your Beth was the Beth. Dustin and Max talk about her all the time.”

Kate laughs, “Yeah, I probably know them as well as you do, honestly.”

Claudia finally pushes the charts away, turning her attention to Kate, “Max is a good kid, a little rough around the edges, but that whole group is. They just need a little time to warm up to new people. Why do you ask?”

Kate slowly nods.
“Beth is just spending a lot of time with them. Apparently one of them is going to tutor her in Algebra.”

“Max’s the girl from March that broke her leg, if you remember, when you were volunteering from Indy? Eddie, one of her uh, guardians, is the one that got attacked by the dogs during the earthquake.”

Kate gasps, “The guy that was missing most of his side, right? That’s Eddie? I’ve barely talked to him besides in passing when he picks Beth up in the mornings.”

“Like I said, rough around the edges. They’re all a little skittish to new people,” Claudia dismissively waves her hand, “Rightfully so, too, if you ask me.”

Kate quickly nods, agreeing with Claudia.
“So, Beth would be safe staying after school at Max’s house?”

Another nurse scoffs out a laugh, getting ignored by both women.

“Dustin’s with them more than he is with me, Kate, that’s where he’ll be when we’re at that training in a few weeks, actually.”

Kate relaxes back in her chair, “Oh, okay.”

“That whole family is satanists, Kate,” Sheila cuts in, “Munson is no good, brought poor Steven right down with him.”

Kate rolls her eyes at Sheila, “Well, I’ve never been invited to go dance around a bonfire in the woods, so either they aren’t actually satanists or they’re shitty at it.”

Sheila scoffs again as Claudia hides her giggles behind her cup of coffee. “Just know I warned you,” Sheila sneers.

Claudia huffs, going back to her charts, “They are not satanists. Eddie is Wayne’s son, by the way.”

“For some reason I hadn’t connected that,” Kate lightly laughs.

A small smile makes its way onto Claudia’s face, “Steve and Eddie both kept Dustin long before I started dating Wayne though. I trust those two more than anyone, Kate.”

Sheila scoffs again, rolling her eyes.
“Satanic -”

Claudia slams her dish of hard candy on the desk next to Sheila making her jump before she can complete her thought, “Take one, perhaps it’ll help that awful sound you keep making.”

Sheila sheepishly takes a butterscotch while Claudia glares at her before turning back to Kate.
“Dusty grew up with most of those kids, all practically angels compared to someone’s children,” Claudia throws another glare over her shoulder to Sheila, “Beth fits right in with our little group, don’t worry honey.”

Kate and Claudia both groan as multiple call lights go off at once.

“One normal graveyard shift is all I ask for,” Claudia mumbles, pushing away from the nurses station to go down the opposite hall that Kate did. 

—

Steve perks up at the sound of the front door opening, sitting up slightly to watch Eddie trudge in from work, haphazardly kicking his shoes off at the door. 

“Hey, baby.”

“Stevie!” Eddie smiles, tossing his jacket and vest on the nearest flat surface - the expensive table his mother had pushed up against the wall to once used for uppity decorations, which makes Steve smile more - before beelining to the couch to collapse directly on top of Steve.

“Bad day?” Steve asks, snaking his arms around Eddie.

A muffled ‘ yeah ’ comes out of Eddie’s mouth where it’s pressed against Steve’s collarbone. 

“Shitty customers?” Steve guesses, getting a nod in response. “I’m sorry, Eds.”

Eddie hums, shifting slightly to get more comfortable.

“I ran into Hop today,” Steve starts, not waiting for a response from Eddie, “Apparently, you’ve recruited another child into your vest cult.”

Eddie raises his head enough to give Steve a weird look.

“El talked him into letting her cut up a jean jacket.”

Eddie chuckles, “He let her?”

“Gare had some sway in that, but get ready because tomorrow she’s gonna ask you questions.”

Eddie smiles, forcing himself off the couch to head upstairs while Steve follows, to dig in an unpacked box in the corner of their room for a sewing kit.

“You can do metal arts and crafts tomorrow, baby.”

Eddie wordlessly holds up the found sewing kit before setting it on the desk and heading to flop in bed, shedding clothing as he goes, motioning for Steve to follow him.
“Metal arts and crafts tomorrow, invade your personal space now,” Eddie announces, making Steve laugh.

“Absolutely Eds,” Steve agrees, tossing Eddie’s discarded jeans in the general direction of the hamper before climbing in after him.

—

Lucas sits across the room again, getting a weird look from his fellow teammate.

“Alright, what the fuck man?”

Lucas turns his attention from the board to his teammate, “What?”

He simply points to Max, already in her seat.

“We, uh, had a fight. I guess.”

“That’s lasted three damn days, Sinclair? You’ve been over here since Monday. I like you man, but seriously, I'd like you a lot more over there.”

Lucas shrugs.

"You're throwin' off the balance, man."

He guesses he could just sit back in his spot, deal with whatever Dustin has to say. But Max stopped trying to call his house last night, after he skipped out on the group study session for 'practice', which he knew Max knows isn’t on tuesdays. 

Dustin doesn’t even glance over to give him the usual ‘ fuck you ’ stare today.

He knows he should bite the bullet and just apologize to Max after snapping. He decided he wasn’t actually pissed about Hawk, but the idea of Max spending time with a guy who could actually understand her when she started talking about music was the straw that broke the camel's back - so to speak - between school, sports, and everything else he has going on.

“Alright, fine, you and Freak junior are fighting. Whatever, man, just keep your other freaks on a leash.”

Lucas looks over to glare at him, “What the fuck did you just say?”

The classmate snorts, “Come on, man, you heard me.”

“No, I don’t think I did.”

He shrugs, “Whatever man.”

Lucas drops it, turning back to the front to start taking notes, glancing over to see Max raising her hand - and getting ignored.

He sighs, waiting for Dustin to raise his hand and ask the question, but instead he just says something to Max and she nods, skipping down some lines to write more notes.

After Geometry, Lucas watches Dustin and Max make their way to Latin as he heads to art two without saying a word to them.

~

Lucas walks into the cafeteria, heading to the jocks table before he heads to the parties table like usual.

“Sinclair!” McHale, one of the seniors, loudly announces his arrival, “Still at odds with your pet freak?”

“Don’t fuckin’ call Max that,” He grumbles, “They’re not freaks, man.”

Mchale dismissively waves his hand, “Whatever. Since you don’t have plans this weekend…”

Lucas starts to object, he usually does have plans with Max on Saturday after her shifts, but a voice in his head reminds him that she might be going to another concert to hang out with Hawk this weekend, souring his mood.

“We’re having a party at Phil’s, you should come.”

“A party?” Lucas asks, looking between McHale and Phil.

Phil nods, exaggeratedly, “Yeah, like Harrington used to throw.”

“So,” Lucas slowly forces the words out, “A giant kegger?”

“Exactly, man!” McHale agrees.

Lucas has heard the horror stories from Steve himself, and Max via Billy, of how easy it is to get caught or worse at these things. But before he can fully think it through he’s nodding.
If Steve could do it in his prime, why couldn’t Lucas handle it? He’d technically already done it last march, right?

“Yeah, sure man.”

~

When the bell rings, the guys all collectively grumble as Beth, El, and Max grin at them.

“Have fun taking the English test!” Max calls as they all shuffle off, Mike flipping her the bird.

“So, what are we gonna do for an hour?” Beth asks.

“Do you trust me?”

Beth shrugs, getting up to get her backpack.
“Yeah, of course Red.”

Five minutes later, the little group is crossing the football field to head into the woods, straight for the picnic table Eddie used to do deals at. 

It doesn’t take Max long to find it, promptly dumping her backpack on the table and plopping down on the bench.

“Woah,” Beth laughs as she joins Max, “What the fuck is this?”

Max shrugs, “Dad used to deal from here.”

“ Drugs ?”

“He doesn’t anymore,” El helpfully adds, “It’s just a hang out spot now.”

Beth stares at them for a second before laughing again, “Alright, fine by me.”

“So,” Beth starts, “Lucas still being an ass?”

The girls spend the hour gossiping - or in El’s case, hunting down wild flowers between wildly thrown in tidbits to the conversation - until they hear the bell signaling the hour-long class is over. They get their bags and trek back out of the woods and across the football fields, all smiles, until they see Higgins waiting for them as they open the doors.

“Shit,” They all say together.

—

Kate has her fist raised to pound on Steve and Eddie’s front door as it swings open, Eddie looking beyond pissed.

“Did the school call you?”

“Yeah, and my kid didn’t fucking -”

“I didn’t say she did,” Kate quickly cuts him off, “I was just wondering if I could get a ride.”

Eddie stares at her for a second before nodding, “Yeah, uh, the van.”

“Thank you,” Kate says, turning on her heel to head to the van, “I’m so fucking mad I don’t trust myself to drive!” 

Eddie slams the front door, heading to the driver's side of the van as he shrugs on his jacket and vest over his well worn Ozzy shirt.
“Bold of you to assume I’m any better.”

Kate climbs in the passenger seat, slamming the door.
“Beth said they were excused from the test!”

“They were,” Eddie huffs, flipping down his visor without thinking as he peels out of the driveway towards the school. 

Kate catches the polaroids out of the corner of her eye shortly before they reach the school, turning her full attention to them.

Eddie notices as he rolls up to the last stop sign, quickly flipping the visor up.

“Um, that’s uh -”

“Roommates, right?” Kate softly says, offering him a knowing smile.

“Yeah,” Eddie lightly laughs, “Roommates.”

The subject gets dropped as Eddie whips into the parking lot, both getting out of the van and marching into the school.

“Who is fucking in charge?” Kate yells as she makes her way into the office.

“Higgins,” Eddie sneers, “Couldn’t pin shit on me so you go after my fuckin’ kid?”

Beth, El, and Max all meekly wave from their seats, offering small quiet ‘Hi’s’

“Now, let's all calm down -” Higgins’ begins, not yet seeing Eddie trail in behind Kate.

“Excuse me?” Kate cuts him off, “I will not calm down!”
She whips around to Eddie, pointing at Higgins, hissing, “He wants me to calm down!”

Higgins tries desperately to get Kate to quiet down, only making her get louder as Eddie stares at him. 

“Will Steve be joining us?” He finally asks.

“No,” Eddie says flatly, arms crossed as he continues to stare at Higgins, “So what the fuck do you think my daughter did, exactly?”

“Well -”

“He thinks we skipped class to go smoke in the woods,” Max finally offers.

“Young lady the adults are talking,” Higgins snaps, scowling in the girls’ general direction.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Kate snaps back, making Higgins blink rapidly at her.

“We weren’t, by the way,” Max continues, “We didn’t even leave school property.”

“Yeah,” Beth tacks on, “Some asshole jock saw us go to the edge of the bleachers and told.”

Eddie turns to Max, eyebrows raised. She quickly averts her eyes to the floor, toeing at a crack in the linoleum.

“Jane?” Eddie tries, already sensing they were lying, and hoping Jane would hold it up in front of Higgins.

“We did not leave school, we went to the edge of the football field, like Beth said.”

“They still skipped class -”

“They were excused,” Kate snips.

“We have the perfect grade in english,” Max mumbles, “We didn’t have to take the test.”

“Did you even bother to double check that?” Eddie asks, turning his attention back on Higgins.

Higgins purses his lips, huffing.
“Their teacher may have mentioned it.”

Kate balls up her fists at her sides, seething.

“So, they broke no rules and you woke one guardian up and pulled another from work for no reason?” Eddie scoffs.

Higgins sighs, “It seems the facts were a bit, skewed .”

“You think?” Kate snaps.

“Perhaps this should be a lesson for Bethany not to run with the wrong crowd.”

Kate goes to respond, Eddie talking over her.
“You can’t discriminate against them because you don’t like me .”

Higgins takes a second before speaking again.
“Disbanding the club may fix that issue, Munson.”

“They didn’t do anything wrong!” Eddie yells, Kate scoffing beside him.

“Let's consider this their first and only warning, shall we?”

“That’s not fair!” Max yells. 

Eddie clamps a hand down on her shoulder, “I’m sure we can find somewhere else to have the Campaigns, kid.”

Max glares at Higgins, but ultimately stays quiet.

—

Lucas catches a glimpse of the girls in Higgins’ office, Kate and Eddie both glaring at him, on his way back from gym.

“The fuck?” He mumbles, mostly to himself. 

One of his teammates knocks his shoulder against Lucas’, snickering.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucas huffs,  “Laugh it up. My girlfriend got sent to the principals office.”

“Sinclair,” The same jock continues to snicker, “ We sent her.”

Lucas stumbles to a full stop in the hallway, staring at his teammates.

“You did - how ?”

A few shrug, others continue to grin. 

“Guys, seriously.”

“Little freak followed in big freaks footsteps.”

Before Lucas can react, or even think about trying to hold himself back from swinging, one of the seniors speaks up.

“Your little girlfriend and her friends went to Munson’s spot to deal.”

“I - she - what?” Lucas stutters out, “Deal? Max doesn’t…”

“Pasley saw them head off into the woods,” The senior insists, throwing an arm around Pasley - another senior. “We used to buy from Munson, Sinclair, we know .”

Lucas just stares at them, dumbfounded, as they all turn and head to their respective classes - still snickering.
Lucas forces his feet to carry him to his last class - Biology two - as he continues to look over his shoulder at the window until Eddie and Kate energe, both leaving as the girls hurry to their next classes. 

—

As soon as Eddie parks, they spill out onto the driveway, slowly making their way in the house to start homework, finding their usual spots around Steve’s house. 

Eddie collapses on the couch, set to watch TV with Steve. 

“Where’s Lucas?” 

Eddie shrugs, “Wasn’t with the kids when I got there.”

Steve turns to give him a weird look, “Did he have practice?”

Eddie shrugs again, “You know as much as I do, babe.”

“Oh,” Steve mumbles, scrunching his brow together, “He’s been acting off all week.”

“All week?” Eddie repeats, looking confused, “That’s - huh.”

They sit in silence, staring at the TV but not actually watching it. 

“We didn’t do any drugs,” Max startles them both, now standing right by the couch.

“I know, Gingersnap,” Eddie chuckles, “You forget I’m proficient in illicit substances?”

“No,” Max scoffs, “But isn’t that what the table’s for?”

Steve’s eyebrows shoot up as Eddie crosses his arms.
“So, you did wander out to the woods?”

“Come on,” Max huffs, “We both know you saw right through that.”

“I did,” Eddie agrees. 

“But you guys didn’t smoke?” Steve asks, getting a quick head shake from Max accompanied by a downright disgusted look that makes Eddie chuckle.

“They were all sober,” Eddie says with a sigh, “No need for anything that happened.”

Max anxiously shuffles from foot to foot.

“So? How grounded am I?”

Steve and Eddie both look at her utterly surprised.
“What?” Steve manages to ask.

“I got in trouble?” Max says, a mixture of anxious and confused, “You had to come all the way to the school -”

Eddie pushes himself off the couch to pull Max into a hug, “You didn’t do anything wrong, Snaps. No one’s mad at you.”

“But -”

“You’re not in trouble, pipsqueak, not grounded,” Eddie states, “We’re still going to the show Saturday, nothing is being taken away, not in trouble.”

Max cuts her eyes to Steve, who shrugs.

“It’d be different if you actually skipped class or got high, Red,” He says, “No point in punishing you for the schools - dislike , of Eds.”

Max relaxes a little, slowly nodding. 

“Can I come?” Mike injects himself in the conversation, “Saturday?”

“Uh -” Eddie starts, getting immediately talked over by Mike.

“Let me go to the show, please dad?” 

Eddie looks at Steve, silently begging him to say something.

“I don’t see why not Eds,” Steve says, making Eddie’s brow shoot up.
“Let the kid live a little, babe.”

“Please?” Mike says again, getting joined by Max.
“Can Mike come this time? Please ?”

Eddie sighs.

“I’ll come, too.”

Eddie turns around to stare at Steve as Dustin yells from his spot across the room.
“You want to go to a metal show ?”

Steve shrugs, “Why not?”

Eddie dramatically falls on the couch, pulling Steve closer to smother his face in kisses as Dustin, Max, and Mike all gag.

“The parents are being gross again,” Max states, turning to head back to the dining room to work on homework, Mike trailing behind her.

Once they’re at a ‘safe’ distance from the couch, and Steve’s slightly hysterical laughter, Mike clears his throat. “Uh, so, can I go?”

Eddie looks over his shoulder to the dining room full of kids with a grin, “Sure, Wheels, we can go have family time at a concert.”

—

After Steve takes everyone else home, Max decideds to try and call Lucas again, thinking he just had practice today. 

The phone rings, and rings, and rings before Mr. Sinclair picks up.

“Sinclair recidence.”

“Oh, um, I was just wondering if Lucas was home yet. it’s Max, by the way.”

“Max! How have you been?”

“Oh, good, um, not using the cane as much not, so…”

“That’s great!” Mr. Sinclair says, “Lucas isn’t home yet, said something about practice maybe? I’m not sure. I can tell him to call you when he gets home?”

“Oh, no, that’s um. I’ll call back later, if that’s okay?”

“That’s perfectly fine, Max.”

“Um, thank you, bye,” Max awkwardly says.

“Bye!”

The line goes dead and Max slowly sits the phone back on it’s cradle.

“Hey, Snaps,” Eddie yells from the kitchen, “Stevie left me in charge of Dinner…”

“Are we having pizza again?” Max yells back, heading into the kitchen where Eddie is glaring at her, hand on his hi.

“No, that’s a rude assumption, Rice Crispy.”

Max crosses her arms, waiting.

“We’re having burgers.”

“From…?”

“I’m making them!” Eddie yells, throwing a cut up tomato at Max, making her laugh.
“I did forget that I hid a tape to buy today, can you go and get it? Gare’s working.”

“Can I take the car?” Max asks with a grin.

“Are you cold? Because only if hells froze over.”

“I’ll skateboard,” Max scoffs, playfully rolling her eyes as she heads to her room to get her vest and shoes. 

"Good choice, Snaps, good choice!" Eddie yells after her.

~

After practice, Lucas gets suckered into joining the basketball team and Cheer squad at the diner. The waitress is far from impressed when they walk in and start shoving tables together, cackling loudly at random shit. 

“Where’s Max?” One Sophomore cheerleader asks, seating herself right beside Lucas to escape Derek.

“Uh, home, I guess.”

“Awe,” she pouts her bottom lip out, “Invite her next time! I always feel like an ass when she isn’t.”

“I uh, I’ll let her know,” Lucas awkwardly says.

“Lucas and Maxie had a little fight,” Derek mock pouts at him from across the table, “Isn’t that right, Luke?”

“Uh,” Lucas nervously laughs, “Something like that, sure.”

“Ohh,” Several of the cheerleaders whoop.

“What’d you do?” The cheerleader next to him - Lizzy, maybe? - seriously asks.

Before Lucas can reply, Derek scoffs.
“Rumor has it she’s seeing some punk douche from the next town over.”

The Cheerleader’s - Lizzy - jaw drops. “What?”

“That’s - that is not true, she’s friends with a metalhead,” Lucas amends, “ I was the asshole. Where'd you even hear that, Brooks?"

Lizzy snaps her jaw closed, kicking at Derek under the table, “I knew that didn’t sound like Mayfield.”

Derek just grins, not answering him.

“Hargrove, might've though," one of the Senior Cheerleaders states after a beat of awkward silence, getting a round of high pitched giggles from her end of the table and a few amused scoffs from the Senior players. 

“Hargrove definitely would've pulled that shit,” Lucas forces a laugh, making Lizzy laugh.

“Drinks?” The waitress walks up, already looking frazzled.

Everyone - much to Lucas’ surprise - politely calls out drinks one at a time.

~

On her way to the Record shop, Max skates by the Diner. The over abundance of green catches her eye, making her look in the windows. 

She scoffs at the tables full of jocks shoving each other over burgers and fries, and the cheerleaders squealing over something almost spilling on them. 

Until Lucas catches her eye, apparently joking with Derek and a girl from their class. 

Max scoffs again, much louder at the cheerleader - Lizzy, maybe? - touching Lucas’ arm at a particularly funny joke. 

She shakes her head, skating off towards the shop as she’s pretty sure someone points at her from the tables.

“Hello,” Gareth monotonically calls as she walks in.

“Tape for Eddie.”

Gareth raises a brow, but doesn’t comment as he digs for the tape. 

“Six,” he announces as he tosses a tape from a band Max has never heard of on the counter.

She digs out Eddie’s money silently, handing it over to Gareth.

“Okay, what the fuck?”

Max shrugs, “I’m just tired.”

“And I’m the pope, now what the fuck?”

“Lucas,” Max mumbles, pocketing the tape.

Gareth quietly says ‘ oh ’ as Max turns and heads back outside, immediately heading home. 

~

“ - Was that Max?” Lizzy asks, pointing out one of the giant windows. 

Lucas looks, shrugging, “Probably, Gareth’s at work so she's going to collect her stash of cassettes I’d assume.”

“Oh,” Lizzy says, turning back to Derek, “Wait, so what again?”

Derek wastes no time diving back into his straight up lie about why he’d moved to Hawkins - Lucas tuning him back out as he finishes his burger. 

“- So, anyway, as I was saying… My dad was going to get the chief job but Apparently this Hopper dude came back? But anyway, my mom had already taken a position at -”

—

Lucas bypasses the Jock table, heading straight for the party, taking his now normal seat by Will.

Mike and Dustin make a show of looking over to the basketball team.

“No cheerleader stop off today?” Mike asks before Lucas acn even wonder what they’re doing, and gets kicked by Max under the table. 

“What?”

“Nothing, ignore him,” Max mumbles, not looking up from her food.

Gareth inhales, squeezing his eyes shut as he puts together why Max was pissy the night before at the shop. 

“Um,” Lucas says, confused, “Okay. So, is hellfire still on for tonight?”

Several people give him weird stares.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Will finally asks. 

“Um,” Lucas chuckles, “Higgins already has it out for us, I’m sure Max’s little stunt didn’t exactly help.”

“Max’s what?” Mike sneers.

“Getting caught at Eddie’s spot.”

“We didn’t do anything,” Max finally speaks up, “We just took a walk.”

“Pasley said -”

“Your teammates are who told?” Max scoffs, “Should’ve known.”

“Max, you left school grounds!”

Max works her jaw, staring out of the window. 

Beth cuts her eyes between Max and Lucas.
“Really? Did we? Because I vividly remember staying on the football field.”

“Yep,” El agrees, glaring at Lucas.

“Maybe you shouldn’t always listen to your little buddies, Lucas,” Beth states, digging her book out of her bag for the first time in over a week. 

“So,” Gareth says, “Everyone coming to Hellfire tonight?”
Everyone mumbles their ‘yeses’.
“Great, glad we covered that.”

Max abruptly gets up and leaves the cafeteria, Lucas sighs, getting up to follow her.
“Max, wait, come on!”

“That didn’t sound like groveling,” Beth comments.

“Forget that, it didn’t even sound like a half assed apology,” Mike snorts.

~

Lucas follows Max to the hallway outside the english room, trying to reason with her the whole walk. 

"Max -"

"You thought I was dealing?" Max hisses, "Why would I do that?"

Lucas weakly shrugs, "The guys said -"

"The guys don't like me, Lucas! Of course they said that."

"Look, I've been an ass all week, and I'm sorry."

Max just stares at him.

"I don't have practice tonight, um, we can hang out before Hellfire today. Okay?"

Max shrugs, looking away from him finally.

"Max, I'm sorry, I was pissy about the concert and I shouldn't have been and it's just spirled from there. I'm supposed to practice all the time, and hang out with the team more, and homework. It's just a lot, okay?"

Max finally nods, "Right, yeah. I get it."

"So, before Hellfire?"

Max nods again, "Before Hellfire."

—

Max walks in the house after Gareth drops her off, and slams the door as she heads upstairs.

“Whoa!” Steve and Eddie both yell from the living room, getting up to head her off, “What the hell, Snaps?”

“Nothing,” Max grumbles, trying to bypass them to get upstairs.

“That was not nothing!” Steve says, motioning to the front door as Eddie makes a grab for her elbow.

“Fine!” Max whips around screaming, “Boys suck! There, can I go now?”

“Uh…” Eddie lets her stomp upstairs with that, both cringing when her door slams.

Steve weakly points upstairs, “You have more experience in that area.”

“Me?” Eddie squeaks, “It’s a jock problem, that is all you Stevie!”

They stare at each other for a second.
“Can we call Robin?” Eddie asks, getting a wild nod from Steve as he heads to the phone. 

Robin picks up on the third ring, making Steve uncurl the phone cord from his finger.

“Robs, what do you do for a break up?”

“Kill Eddie, why?”

Eddie pulls back from the other side of the phone, glaring at it.

“Not me, Robs, Max.”

“ Max ? My niece Max?”

“Do you know another one?” Eddie sassily asks, taking the phone from Steve for a second. 

“What happened?” She asks, ignoring Eddie.

“Uh, boys suck,” Steve reports.

“I figured you'd know that,” Robin says, making both of them grimace as she giggles.

“ Robin ,” Eddie hisses.

“Right, right,” She clears her throat, “Um, I don’t know? Offer her ice cream? Steve, what makes you think I’d know the answer to this?”

“Um, you’re a chick?”

“Call Nancy,” Robin snorts.

Eddie shakes his head, leaving Steve to the phone call as he heads upstairs to Max’s room, gently knocking. 

“Snaps? shit - uh, Max?”

Max slowly cracks the door open, “What, bat bait?”

“Um, I was just fixing to run some errands, you wanna come with?”

“At almost eight pm?”

Eddie shrugs, “Stevie’s on the phone with Robs about this weekend.”

Max half heartedly shrugs, “Sure?”
She lets the door open the rest of the way as she turns to slip her converse on.

“Meet you in the van,” He says, turning and heading down the stairs.

“Goin’ out,” Eddie announces, getting a confused nod from Steve whose still on the phone. 

Shortly after Eddie is situated in the van, Max scurries out and climbs in.

“Where are we going anyway?”

Eddie shrugs, “Around. Metallica or Judas Priest?”

Max stares at him for a second before pointing to British Steel , “Priest please.”

He nods approvingly before putting the tape in and backing out of the drive.

“There's no errands, are there?”

“I’m sure I’ll need to get gas at some point,” He shrugs, turning to head out of town, “Spill. What happened?”

Max shrugs, relaxing against her seat.
“Today? Lucas told us his teammates are the ones that told Higgins on us, and he believed them.”

“Asshole,” Eddie comments.

“And then he was late for hellfire. After making this big point to ask about it.”

“Late?”

Max nods, “Yeah, Gare was pissed.”

“How late?”

Max lolls her head over to look at him, “Late late.”

Eddie silently says ‘ oh ’, nodding once. 

Max stays silent for a while, making Eddie think she was done.

"He missed a date."

Eddie whips his head over to look at her, "Lucas missed a date with you? Today?"

Max nods, "Before Hellfire. We made it at lunch and then he never showed up."

"That asshole!" Eddie yells, making Max weakly laugh.

Eddie drives the outskirts of town while Max cycles through several tapes, not really telling Eddie much more and his gas tank nearly hits empty.

“It’s almost ten pipsqueak.”

“Back home?”

“We better head that way before Steve sends Hopper after us.”

Max snorts out a laugh as she climbs out at the gas station.

“Snacks?”

“Snacks,” She agrees, heading inside and going straight for the candy bars before meeting Eddie back at the front to pay.

—

The shift had gone better than Steve thought it would, Robin having opted to stay at college this weekend. 

Mike and Max had fallen into their usual habits, Max manning the front desk while Mike runs the store doing whatever odd task he can find, both overly excited about Eddie taking them to the show tonight. 

Steve steps out of the office to find Max spinning Mike in circles in the chair, giggling manically.

“Max, why -?”

Mike flings an arm out to stop the chair, immediately voicing his concern and dizziness.

“You know what,” Steve huffs, “I don’t wanna know. Uh, so, someone called in -”

“No!” Both teens yell, “You aren’t coming with us now?”
Max adds on a whiney, “Dad you promised.”

“- For tomorrow night,” Steve continues, chuckling, “So, who wants to work the evening shift  instead?”

They turns towards each other, Max holding her fist out, “Rock paper scissor wins?”

“Only way to choose,” Mike agrees, getting ready as well. 

Steve sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as Max says ‘Rock, paper, scissor, shoot!’.

“Paper!” Max happily yells, covering Mike’s ‘rock’ for emphasis, “I win!”

“Out of three, Munson,” Mike grumbles, holding out his hand again. 

Steve chuckles as they go again.

“Scissors!” Max yells again, “I win!”

“Damn it!” Mike grumbles, “She gets the shift.”

“I am so glad we handled that like adults,” Steve comments, holding back laughter.

The door chimes as Mark watlzes in.
“Boss man!”

Steve sighs.
“Hey, Mark, glad you made it in.”

“Who am I workin’ with tomorrow? Lily called me.”

Steve points to a still grinning Max.

“Red, sweet.”

“You are in charge,” Steve whispers as Mark passes them to go clock in.

Max nods “Duh.”

“Sorry!” Someone yells as the door chimes, the other closer for the evening, “I’m late, I know!”

“I’ll ignore it, okay kids, let's go.”

Mike bails off the chair and rushes out of the door as Max rolls her eyes, clocking them both out.

“That child wouldn’t survive a day without you, Red,” Steve mumbles, following Max out to the car where Mike is already waiting by the door. 

"Believe me, I know," Max states as she boots Mike to the back seat.

The drive home is filled with excited chatter, Mike asking Max every possible question he can think of. 

Eddie meets them at the door, already ready.
“Okay, hurry lets go.”

Max rushes to her room as Mike rushes to the spare bedroom to change.

“Excited much?”

“All I heard about all the way home,” Steve laughs, closing the door, “Can I borrow a shirt?”

Eddie follows Steve up the stairs, reminding him of a puppy, “Absolutely, babe, I love seeing you in my clothes.”

“Children will be with you,” Max reminds him as she passes by on her way to the bathroom.

“Unfortunately so!” Eddie playfully snarks back. 

Steve rolls his eyes as he holds out his favorite of Eddie’s shirts, a well loved Iron Maiden shirt, for approval.

“Absolutely, sweetheart.”

“You’re gonna make the kids sick if you keep it up,” Steve comments, tone full of amusement.

“They chose this!” Eddie states, slipping his leather jacket on before draping his vest over Steve’s shoulders once he’s changed.
“It’s like tradition at this point, pretty boy.”

“Are you two done flirting?” Mike asks from the doorway, “We’re all ready.”

“Us flirting is what made us this big happy family, so you shush, Wheels.”

“What ever ,” Mike scoffs with an eyeroll, turning to head out to the car with Max.

—

“ Ow ,” Mike huffs, jerking away from Max, again, as Eddie and Steve both chuckle.

“I didn’t even touch you,” Max huffs, “Do you want eyeliner or not ?”

Mike glares at her for a second before sighing, “Yes.”

“Then stop moving!” Max yells as she forcefully tilts his head back to apply it. 

“Have kids they say… It’ll be fun they say,” Eddie mumbles, making Steve laugh harder.

“There, you are done,” Max recaps her eyeliner, “Was that so hard?”

“You’re mean.”

Max gives Mike an unamused glare as she points towards the entrance, “Go.”

Eddie snickers as they all join the line.

“Hey man!” Eddie says, already offering the bouncer a baggie neither kid pay attention to as they’re waved inside. 

“Do I wanna know?” Steve asks.

Eddie shakes his head, “Not really.”

Steve just nods, following Max as she drags Mike to the front of the ‘venue’.

“Red!” Both Max and Steve turn to look at Hawk.

Steve leans over to Eddie, “That’s the kid?”

“Told you, harmless,” Eddie mumbles.

Steve is inclined to agree, Hawk looks more scrawny than anything, clearly only getting his nickname from his hairdo.

“Hey, Mike this is Hawk.”

“This is -? Hey man.”

Steve and Eddie share a weird look before shrugging. 

Before the show starts, Eddie disappears to get beer for him and Steve, leaving Steve to listen to Max, Mike and Hawk and ignore the drunks beside him. 

"Holy shit, your school lets you have a whole club for DnD?"

"Yep!"

"I don't know why she's so excited, she doesn't even play it right."

Eddie hands him his beer, taking a sip of his own as Steve snarls his nose slightly.

“Not all of us can afford the expensive shit, Stevie, the taste grows on you.”

“This reminds me of highschool,” Steve mumbles, making Eddie laugh.

The music starts, Steve not knowing any of it as expected, but headbanging and dancing with Eddie anyway - knowing full well he’d feel it in the morning. 

The teens are just as bad as Eddie, cackling every time someone tumbles into them from the pit as Mike and Hawk push them back in.
Max looks the happiest she has all week, scream-singing lyrics and dancing with Mike. At one point, Steve sees Mike's arm draped over her shoulders as they scream out lyrics to a song Steve kind of knows, both grinning and laughing in between words.

Eddie slings an arm around Steve’s shoulders.
“I know this really isn’t your thing,” He all but yells in his ear, “But thanks for comin, Stevie.”

Steve just smiles. 

Max concert-screams as the band starts a new song, spurring Hawk and Mike to headbang harder, if possible, with her. 

“She’s not gonna be able to talk tomorrow, is she?” Steve yells at Eddie.

“Nope!” Eddie cackles, making Steve laugh as well. 

Eddie hands off the last sip of his beer to Max again as Steve protests,
“Edward!”

Eddie shrugs, “It’s one sip, Stevie.”

Steve leans over to watch Max finish it off with a grimace before looking back at Eddie and rolling his eyes.

The rest of the show goes about the same, Steve letting Mike have the last sip of his beer as Eddie rolls his eyes. 

“God,” Mike coughs, “You were right this shit sucks!”

“I told you,” Max says, “Disgusting.”

After the show, both kids say their goodbyes to Hawk before heading to the van, crashing in the backseat before Eddie even pulls out of the parking lot, leaned up against each other. 
Steve almost wishes he had a camera with them to take a picture to prove the two assholes could stand each other.

—

Lucas makes his way inside, narrowly avoiding bumping into people, as he goes to find McHale and Pasley.
He hadn't told any of the party he was coming. Hell, he hadn't even talked to Max since Hellfire after he completely blew off their date, thanks to Brooks and a couple of the seniors that talked him into a not so quick game of parking lot ball.

“Sinclair! You made it, man!” McHale yells.

“Yeah,” Lucas forces a laugh. It’d only taken him lying to his parents about where he was going to get out of the house. 

“Here, man!” Another senior says, pushing a beer can into his hands.

“Thanks,” Lucas says weakly, following them out of the kitchen. 

The beer tastes just as bad as it did in March, but all the upperclassmen keep cutting their eyes to him, so he sips it anyway. 

He manages to finish it, not planning on drinking anymore. 

As soon as he sits the empty can down, Pasley shoves a red solo cup in his hands.

“What is this?”

“Uhh,” Pasley shrugs, “Hawaiian Punch man!”

Lucas tentatively sniffles it, “Punch?”

“With some vodka,” Pasley grins.

“Great,” Lucas forces a smile, taking a sip and biting back the grimace that follows. 

He downs the punch, quickly declining anything else as he tries to rejoin the conversation McHale is having with a couple of the sophomores on the team.

“Right, Lucas?”

“Right,” Lucas nods, not sure what they’re even talking about now, but McHale grins before he turns back to his classmates.

Lucas zones out the rest of the conversation, enjoying the buzz from the drinks as McHale fades into the background.

Chapter Text

Steve chuckles at Mike pouring his second cup of coffee - this one to go.
“Do I need to give you the same treatment that you gave Max last weekend?”

Mike nods, taking a sip of his coffee. “Probably,” He says, immediately yawning, “How’d she do this last weekend?”

Steve shrugs, “Stubbornness I guess, lets go before we’re late.”

“Still better than a saturday night at my house,” Mike mumbles, getting a weird look from Steve, but changing the subject before he can ask, “What’s aunt Rob’s doing?”

“Um, college stuff, I guess.”

“Did she meet someone?” Mike grins, making Steve laughs as he heads out the door.

“I think so, actually.”

“You think ? So you’ve never met her? What if she’s horrible -”

“I’ve heard about her, she sounds pretty cool. Calm down on the protecting aunt Rob shit.”

Mike huffs as he slides into the beemer's passenger seat, “I will not.”

Steve snorts out a small laugh, shaking his head as he pulls out of the driveway. 

Mike steadily sips his coffee on the drive to family video. 

“Dude, you’re gonna be jittery.”

Mike adamantly shakes his head, “Won’t be jittery, be awake.”

“Okay, Eddie,” Steve scoffs with a laugh.
Mike whips his head over to give him a weird look.
“Sound just like him.”

“Then it’s gotta be true,” Mike shrugs, making Steve shake his head. 

They head inside, both immediately grumbling at the state of the store. 

“When can you fire Mark?”

“After he works with Max, I probably won’t have to.”

“God bless bossy asshole sisters,” Mike mumbles, making Steve nod mutely in agreement as they head to clock in.

“I’ll straighten, you do the returns.”

“Got it, mom.”
Mike heads straight for the returns box that's overflowing and starts sorting them by piles to do one stack at a time.

—

Erica flicks at Lucas’ forehead.
“Wake up, are you dead? It’s after one.”

Lucas groans, rolling away from Erica.

“Okay, so you’re not dead. Mom wants you up, let's go.”

Lucas grumbles, trying to sit up and immediately lays back down, trying to combat the pounding in his head. 

“Are you deaf today or something?”

“Migraine,” He mumbles out, “I’ll get up in a second.”

“Migraine? Like mom?”

Lucas nods - painfully - and winces.

“I’ll tell the mother here you’re sick then.”

“Not sick, just in pain.”

“Manflu,” Erica mumbles as she walks out - blessedly closing the door behind her. 

Lucas forces himself to sit upright, holding his head. 

He remembers the beer and the solo cup of ‘punch’, but he also thinks he may have ended up with another cup of something. Another punch, maybe? He isn’t sure, but he drank more than he meant too, that's for sure.

‘Isn’t as bad as March, at least,’ he mumbles to himself as he forces himself off the bed to go get pain meds.

~

Steve is feeling his age, as he fully expected to, and he’s completely sure Mike would be making fun of him with every little mumbled ‘ow’ everytime he goes to turn his head, if he could hear him. More than once since Steve unlocked the doors for customers Mike has had to have them repeat themselves, so they’ve just had a silent agreement not to tease the other. 

“Steve,” Mike says a little too loud, but Steve doesn’t scold him, instead Steve makes eye contact opposed to trying to yell back, which Mike seems to appreciate.
“Can I go crash on your couch after work?”

“Of course, kiddo, you know you're always welcome.”

Mike simply nods, either he got most of it or was just expecting a yes. Why he’d even asked was beyond Steve to begin with.

The door chimes and Steve groans, they’re so close to being off he can taste it at this point. He double checks the clock, just an hour before Eddie is dropping Max off.

“Hey man,” Mike says, making Steve look up from inspecting a cover of a VHS tape as he tries not to make eye contact with customers.

“Hey Lucas.”

“Hey. Uh, Mike, are you - are you wearing makeup?”

Mike huffs, “I let Max put eyeliner on me last night and didn’t wash it off.”

“Uh Huh. And why were you playing with makeup again?”

“I went with Max to the concert,” Mike shrugs, “I thought we mentioned it at lunch on Friday.”

“Oh. Uh, Anyway, is Max here?”

Mike shakes his head after a second, “She took the evening shift, why?”

Even from where Steve is sitting - as far away from the register as possible but still behind the counter - he can tell something’s wrong with Lucas. He looks almost mad at Mike about the concert, and If he didn’t know better, he’d place his bets on hungover or still drunk, but that doesn’t really track.

“Um, our team has a scrimmage its - ask Steve,” Lucas pauses to hold his head, “It's on Tuesday and I want you guys there.”

Mike turns to look at Steve, obviously asking what the fuck he’s agreeing to.

“It’s like a pregame game, see where they stand,” Steve explains, staring Lucas down as he squirms.

Mike turns back to Lucas with a shrug, “Can’t speak for Max, but I’m sure the rest of us are free. Come back up here in like, an hour and she’ll be here.”

“I’ll just see her tomorrow.”

Mike sighs.
“Dude, come up here and see her.”

Lucas awkwardly shifts, shrugging.

“Fine, don’t, whatever. But actually talk to her on monday.”

“Yeah, I will.”

Mike doesn’t look convinced, and it leaves Steve slightly confused.
“I don't mean walk up and ask her to come, I mean apologize for being a dick.”

Lucas scoffs, “I know how to talk to my own girlfriend, Wheeler.”

Steve’s brow shoots up as Mike glares at him. “Then maybe fucking do it.”

He knows from the small amount of details Eddie gave him that he’d missed a date, but he’d apologized for that. Right? Before Steve can ask him, Lucas is out of the store and heading for his bike.

“You worried about him too?”

“I’m more worried about Max, to be honest,” Mike says, “But El has offered her services more than once, so, yeah maybe a little.”

“Max?”

Mike shrugs, “It’s dumb teenager stuff.”
Mike shakes his head and opens his mouth as if he were going to say something, then closes it. “Just dudes being dicks, I guess.”

“Uh huh,” Steve says, letting the topic drop. 

“Anyway, I don’t know how to do this. I always let Max do it.”

Steve scoot-walks himself over in his office chair, “What are we doing? The lates list?”

Mike nods.

“Alright let’s see, I normally make Robs do it.”

—

Max had been on time, obviously, but Mark was running late by nearly thirty minutes. He’d tried to brush it off, but Max is making him run around the store actually doing things, all while he makes fun of her barely there voice as the guys leave. 

“Mayfield, I need you to go straighten the cartoons.”

“Nope,” Max chirps, “I am not to leave this chair, Mark. It is on your to-do list, not mine .”

Mark whines, trudging off to the cartoons, stomping like a moody toddler. Max rolls her eyes, finishing the last of the late fee updates. 

“Alright Red, if you don’t want to skate home tonight call us and we’ll come pick you up,” Steve calls on his way out.

“I should be fine, but if not I’ll let you know.”

Steve and Mike wave, nearly tripping each other to get out of the store and to the car.

“Home?”

Mike nods, yawning.
“Can I play music?”

Steve shrugs, “I don’t have a lot of Eds tapes in here but go for it.”

Mike digs in the console for a second before just settling for the radio, managing to find the one rock station Hawkins picks up. 

“Uh, the stones, right?” Steve asks, pointing at the radio. 

“The Rolling Stones, but close enough, yeah.”

“I called poison ’piston’ the other day, so I’ll call this a win.”

Mike snorts out a laugh, shaking his head. “How does Ed put up with you?”

Steve shrugs, “I ask that everyday Mike, so who knows.”

Mike looks at Steve like he wants to say something, but turns to look out the windshield instead, belting out the lyrics to the song.

The rest of the short drive consists of Mike singing horribly off key, while Steve tries not to laugh. 

He turns the radio off as they pull into the driveway, “Okay, concerts over.”

“Rude,” Mike scoffs, “That’s the best part. You ruined my solo.”

“I’m horrible, I know,” Steve shoos Mike out of the car, both trudging to the porch. 

“I’m gonna go claim the couch.”

“Eds might be on it, he was off today and made Max skate to work,” Steve says around a yawn, pushing the door open. 

“- Right, so don’t cut on the seam, yeah right there.”

Mike and Steve share a look of confusion before heading into the house to find Eddie and El sprawled out in the middle of the living room floor with a handful of buttons - some of which Steve saw Eddie buy the day prior on a pit stop before the show on the outskirts of Indy - a few patches, randomly assorted sewing supplies, scissors, and El’s thrifted jean jacket. 

“So, right here?” El asks, scissors moving slightly lower on the arm of the jacket. 

“Yeah, that way it doesn’t all go to shit.”

“Metal arts and crafts?” Steve asks, smiling at them. 

Eddie looks up, grinning. “Yeah, El came over with Will so we decided to work on her vest, finally .”

Mike looks around the living room for Will, chuckling at him and Gareth both tucked into a recliner, Gareth looking over Will’s shoulder at what has to be an uncomfortable angle to see whatever he’s sketching. 

“I have a sketch due Wednesday in my art class, so I’m forcing dad and El to model,” Will answers the unasked question of why .

“Told him to be sure and sketch my good side,” Eddie mumbles, clearly uncomfortable with the situation as he pointedly ignored the recliner at all costs, “Told him he’d end up with a zero just because it’s me but he won’t listen.”

Will made a point of rolling his eyes, “I will not, Dad.”

“Both your sides are your good side, Eds,” Steve says on his way to sit on the couch closest to them, Mike following along to watch El. 

“My god, that was corny Harrington,” Gareth mumbles, shifting slightly to tighten his arms around Will.

“Does Hopper know you two are that close?” Steve asks flatly, making El and Mike snicker. 

“No, and if you tell him I’ll tell Wayne what you and Eddie get up to.”

Steve opens his mouth to reply, Eddie being faster. “Wayne knows exactly what the fuck we do, Gareth. You mind your business.”

The teens burst into giggles as Steve and Eddie roll their eyes. 

“ Anyway , cut off the other sleeve now.”

“Same spot, Dad?”

“Same spot, kiddo.”

“Oh, Wheeler!” Gareth says, sitting up from slouching over Will, “Little birdy told me something…”

Mike gives Gareth a very confused stare before shrugging. “Okay? Why does that affect me?”

“Why the fuck did you not tell us you could play guitar?”

Eddie's head whips up to stare at Mike, as he visibly pales. 

“Uh, who- who told you?” He flicks his eyes to El, who shakes her head, not looking up from her cutting.

“Max, it was fucking Max wasn’t it? I told her -!”

“It was hopper.”

“Hop- Hopper told you?”

Gareth nods, “Uh huh! So I talked to Jeff, and he’s willing to switch back to bass, which he was before Grant, so no big deal there -“

“I suck,” Mike interjects quickly, “That’s why I hadn’t said anything, it’s bad. Horribly bad.”
El loudly scoffs as Gareth cocks an eyebrow up, cutting his eyes to Eddie whose still staring at Mike slack jawed.
“I’m teaching myself,” Mike continues, slightly frantic if you ask Steve, “And I can’t figure some of the shit out and it’s just - I suck. I suck, so you don’t want me in the band, Gare.”
Mike finishes his rant with a half shrug, staring anywhere but Eddie and Gareth. 

Eddie gets up out of the floor and heads upstairs, making Mike fidget uncomfortably as he cuts his eyes to Steve as if asking what the fuck Eddie’s doing. 

A few minutes later he reappears, toting his guitar with him. He walks over and hands it to Mike before plugging it into the amp that Gareth still isn’t sure how he talked Steve into leaving in the living room.

“Play.”

“Y-yours? You want me to play yours ?”

Eddie nods, “play, I wanna hear it.”

“Uh, Dad -“

“Please? Just - it sounds different to other people than it does to you, promise.”

Mike looks at Steve, who gives him an encouraging nod, before finally giving in, playing the opening to what Steve immediately recognizes as an Ozzy song Max and Eddie blast a lot.
Either something rebel, or shot in the dark. Steve isn’t great with the names of them anyway.

“ Holy shit ,” Gareth mumbles, Will turning to smirk at him as if to say told you so . 

Eddie’s slack jawed again. 

“Mike, bud,” Steve says when he stops half way through, “why do you think you suck again?”

“Um…”

“Ted,” El helpfully supplies, “He tells him he sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard.”

“Ted’s Fuckin’ full of shit,” Eddie snaps, rather loudly.

“Told him so,” El quips, successfully holding up two detached sleeves.

“We’ll return to this later,” Eddie motions around Mike, “But now, we decide where your patches and pins go, supergirl.”

“Keep playing,” Will says, adding something to his sketch, “It sounds better than it did last week.”

—

Erica swings Lucas’ door open as he yelps, Erica not bothered in the least.
“Your boyfriends on the phone, come answer it.”

“ Boyfriend ?”

Erica shrugs “Well, you’ve been spending more time with him than Max, so I just figured you downgraded. How am I supposed to keep up with your love life?”

“Erica -!”
She’s already leaving, looking a little too smug she’d riled him up.

“Oh, did you tell Lucas?”

“He’s on his way,” Erica replies from down the hall, sweet as ever.
Lucas finally realizes why Nancy and Mike don’t necessarily like each other all the time now, he’s pretty sure. 

He huffs as he gets off his bed and heads down the hall, offering his mom a smile before he picks up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sinclair!”

“Brooks, what the fuck man?”
His dad peaks over his paper to raise his eyebrows. Lucas offers a quietly mouthed ‘sorry’.

“What? Hey, a group of us are going out for some food, you should come.”

Lucas glances at the clock, “It’s like, seven on a school night.”

“We’ll be done by like, eight thirty max. Come on man.”

Lucas knows he should go to family video instead, but his coach made a point of riding their asses about not being close enough as a team on friday. 

“Fine, I’ll meet you there,” He finally sighs.

“Sweet, see you in a second!” Brooks says before hanging up. 

“Teammates meeting up?” Mr. Sinclair asks.

“Yeah, uh, we’re gonna probably go shoot hoops or something, I don’t know.”

“Have fun.”

Lucas nods, heading back to his room to grab his shoes. 

~

“Mike!” Will catches his attention as he’s almost out the door, “Can you take El home?”

Mike shrugs, “I mean, I guess, but isn’t she supposed to ride with you?”

“Hop won’t care.”

“We both know he will.”

“Mike, he likes you.”

“Does your boyfriend know you lie this much or -?”

Will rolls his eyes, “Can you just take her home?”

“And what are you gonna do?” Mike asks with a grin.

Steve grimaces and Eddie snickers as he picks up the remaining sewing materials. 

“Do you really wanna know?”

Mike purses his lips for a second, thinking.
“No, not really. El, babe, you ready?”

El slides her new vest on, also grimacing at Will.
“Yeah, I’m ready.”

Mike nods towards outside, heading for his bike.
“Be safe!” He cheekily calls over his shoulder at Gareth and Will, Will blushing bright red as Steve and Eddie cackle from the living room.

“Don’t tease them,” El scolds.

“You do it all the time!”

“I’m his sister,” she shrugs, “I’m supposed to.”

Mike shakes his head, grinning, “Fair enough I guess.”

~

Mark throws a wadded up piece of paper at Max, making her squeeze her eyes shut as she contemplates how much she actually wants a job. 
“Yo, Red.”

“What, Mark?”

“Can you -”

“My list is done, I am working on closing right now. Do your own list.”

Mark huffs, picking the list up to read over it again before ripping it down the middle and throwing it away.
“Lists done.”

“Stop being a little bitch and do your shit, Mark,” Max snaps, glaring at him.

Mark stares at her in shock as she gets the box of returns to do.

“Uh, days does that.”

“Close duties is to do all returns, Mark, go clean the bathrooms if you need something to do.”

Mark grumbles as the phone rings, picking it up as he glares at the back of Max’s head.

“Family video.”

“Hey, what time are you leaving tonight?” Derek asks, “We’re all meeting at the diner in a second.”

“Not as early as we usually do,” Mark huffs.

“Who the hell are you working with?”

“Mayfield.”

“Oh,” Derek says, “Well, goodluck with that. I guess we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Mark grumbles, hanging up.

“Been closing early, have you?”

“Gonna run and tell boss man?”

“Now why would I do a thing like that?” Max asks, checking a movie in and setting it in the pile it needs to go in.

“Uh, because you're a bitch?”

“Fantastic observation, Mark, those sidewalk smarts are really coming along, aren't they?”
Max smirks at the glare she gets from Mark, checking in another tape.
“Run along and go do something besides stare at me, shitbird. I'm pretty I know, but do your fuckin' job.”

—

Hopper narrows his eyes as they ride up.
“Where’s Will and Gareth?”

Both shrug.
“I asked Mike to bring me so I wouldn’t have to deal with them.”

Mike cuts his eyes at her while Hopper chuckles, shaking his head.
“Fine, I’m sure they didn’t mind being ditched.”

“Nope, not a bit,” El smiles. 

“How’s working with Steve been?” Hopper turns his attention to Mike, making him tense up a bit.

“Um, fine, I guess. It’s actually kind of fun.”

“How’s Max likin’ it?”

Mike shrugs half heartedly, “Um, she likes being able to buy her own sh - stuff, not so much cleaning up after our other coworkers.”

Hopper chuckles, “Surprised she hasn’t made anyone quit yet.”

“Me and Steve have a bet going, actually.”

He nods, taking a sip of his beer, “Yeah, so do me and Joyce. So, how’d you like the concert?”

“Oh, um, it was fun.”

Hopper nods, clearly trying to think of more small talk.

“Gare told Eddie about him learning guitar and he made him play tonight," El offers up with a smile.

“Oh, how’d that go?”

Mike shrugs as El rolls her eyes.
“Great, because he’s actually good.”

Mike cuts his eyes at her, trying to get her to take the hint and change topics again.

“Figured, Karen said you were getting pretty good. So, you takin’ the spot?”

Mike shrugs again.

“Yes,” El says, “He already said he would.”

“I said I’d think about it,” Mike quickly corrects.

“Take it,” Hopper says with a shrug as he takes another sip, “Live a little, kid. God knows you all deserve it.”

Mike shifts awkwardly as he nods.

“Well, better get home before Karen and Ted start looking for you.”

El and Mike both scoff, making Hopper stare at them in surprise, setting his can down.

“Um, I’ll see you in the morning, El.”

Hopper makes a show of sighing and getting up, “If she’s not inside in two minutes, I’m coming back out here.”

Both teens stare at him, confused, as he makes his way inside. 

“Is he okay?”

El shakes her head, “I’m pretty sure he’s dying and just hasn’t told us yet.”

"That would make more sense than him liking me," Mike muses, getting a smack to the arm by El.

—

Mike walks into family video, looking around the store for either Mark or Lucas before heading to the front counter. 

“Where’s dumbass?”

Max jerks a thumb over her shoulder towards the back room, “Killing time. He’s pissy because he told me to do something and I called him a little bitch.”

“Truth hurts I guess,” Mike shrugs, offering his Icee to Max.

“The fuck you even doing here?” Max asks, popping the top off the cup to drink some of it.

Max shrugs, “Took El home, had an awkward conversation with Hopper, now I’m here.”

Max snorts out a laugh, “How’d that go?”

“I think he was being nice? Anyway, did Lucas ever come in?”

Max shoots him a confused look, shrugging and ignoring Mark reappearing from the back room. ”Today? Not that I saw. Why?”

Mike sighs, shaking his head. “He came in looking for you earlier, apparently he wants us all to come to his…” He trails off with a frown, “pregame?”

“Scrimmage?”

“That’s the word!”

“I’m so glad El isn’t into sports, for your sake.”

Mike rolls his eyes, “Whatever, it’s Tuesday. I told him to come in tonight to see you.”

“Well, he hasn’t…” Max mumbles, tipping the cup up to get more of the Icee out before handing it back to Mike. 

“Who hasn’t what?” Mark asks, playing with a click pen so obnoxiously it makes Max’s eye twitch.

“Lucas hasn’t come in today.”

Mark scoffs, “Yeah, he probably won’t.”

Max and Mike both turn to give him a weird look.

“What? I heard he had plans with some of our teammates. The diner or something? I wasn’t really paying attention,” Mark shrugs. 

“On a sunday?”

Mark shrugs again, “No clue, Red. Think they went out last weekend too.”

“No,” Max laughs, “He was with his sister last sunday.”

Mark looks up at them from the pen finally “Are you sure? I thought Derek said he met up with some of the other sophomores at like, eight Sunday night.”

“Oh,” Max says, unable to keep the hurt out of her tone, “Maybe I misunderstood, who cares.”

Mike cuts his eyes between the two before pushing off the counter, “Right, well, I’m gonna head home, Snaps. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Max waves, going back to cleaning as Mark tries to sit on the counter, getting sprayed with her cleaner.

“What the hell, Red!”

“Don’t sit on my counter, fuckface.”

Mike goes out of his way to bike past the diner, scoffing when he sees Lucas sitting at a booth with a handful of sophomore and juniors.

He shakes his head before he turns and bikes home. 

—

Steve pulls up to Dustin’s house, glancing in the back seat at Lucas and Erica who seem to be ignoring each other - per usual.

“Steve!” Dustin says, opening the door to climb in, “ Okay, so -”

Steve holds up his hand to stop Dustin, “Please let me start driving before your mouth starts.”

Dustin stays quiet long enough for Steve to pull onto the road and drive a house down from him.

“Okay, so, there’s this girl I like.”

“Girl, kay, got it.”

Dustin gives him a weird look for a split second before hurdling right on.
“I don’t know if she likes me back, you see, so -”

“Beth does,” Lucas says, sounding bored.

Dustin twists in his seat to stare at Lucas
“I’m not talking to you, respectfully, I don’t want your advice, thanks. Anyway, so, mom .”

“Just ask her out, Dusty. Pretty sure Lucas is right.”

“Told you.”

“Backseat, shush. This is an A and B conversation, politely C your way out of it.”

Lucas holds his hands up in defeat, sighing.
“Whatever.”

“Jesus Christ,” Steve mumbles before speaking up, “Beth our neighbor, right? Have Max hint around and see, they’re pretty close right?”

“Wayne said not to let the sisters get close before you ask them out.”

Steve glances back at Erica, “Peanut gallery, comments?”

“Wayne’s right, we’re devious little assholes,” Erica says, getting a mumbled ‘we’re well aware’ out of Lucas, “But Beth’s cool, I’d have Max poke around and see if your eyes aren’t working.”

“The sister-spokesperson has made her statement,” Steve shrugs, “Case closed.”

—

Max and Beth are already crammed in the van before Eddie picks up Mike, pointing to the front seat opposed to the back.

“Stevie’s getting the sinclair’s and Dust today, something about Dustin wanting advice?” Eddie shrugs, “No clue I didn’t have my coffee so I didn’t ask.”

“Piece of advice, never ask what Dustin means,” Mike says as he hoists himself into the front seat.

“That’s also true,” Eddie yawns, nodding, “Kid gives me a headache without even trying.”

“Hey,” Max leans up to look over the seat at Mike, “Did you pass the diner last night?”

He offers her a tight lipped smile, “He was there, Derek and like four others were with him.”

“Was that chick Lizzy there?”

Mike stares at her blankly for a second before shrugging.

“Cheerleader, short, sits next to Trevor in English?”

“Oh!” Mike quickly nods in understanding, “Yeah, I don’t know.”

Eddie cackles as Max narrows her eyes at Mike.
“Seriously?”

“I just rode past, I didn’t like, go in and inspect faces.”

“I think baby Kirk deserves a break, Red.”

Max sighs, slouching back in her seat.
“Fine, thanks for checking.”

“It’s what I’m here for, snaps.”

Eddie cuts his eyes to Max, waiting for her reaction, mildly surprised she doesn’t have one. 

“So, why are we stalking Lucas?” he finally asks as they turn onto the street for the school.

“It’s not stalking, it's called investigative work,” Beth corrects, “And it’s because he’s an ass.”

Max shushes her, quickly shaking her head and pointing to Eddie, thinking he can’t see her in the rearview he suspects.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“He miss another date, kid?”

“Another?” Beth asks, looking at Mike who looks equally as pissed off.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Right…” Eddie says, looking at Mike who rolls his eyes, scowling in response. 

“Lizzy, really?” Beth asks, snarling as if it was the most disgusting thing she’d heard.

Max shrugs, “She’s just way too nice for a cheerleader.”

“Holy shit, you have a point.”

Mike rolls his eyes and looks at Eddie, who copies his ‘i'm over it’ expression.

“I know!” Max yells.

The rest of the drive is awkwardly quiet, Mike and Eddie assuming the girls are plotting someone's downfall. 

“Have fun at school,” Eddie calls as the kids spill out onto the pavement and rush to join Gareth, Will, El, and Dustin.
Eddie scans over them again, double counting like he’d missed him. Lucas isn’t in the group.
He curses under his breath as he turns to head for the record store. 

“No Lucas?” Beth asks.

“Nope,” Dustin says, giving her a ‘ I’m as pissed as you ’ look. 

“I’m being a bitch at lunch,” Beth announces.

“Thank you for speaking for all of us,” Will mumbles.

Max rolls her eyes as they walk in the building, parting ways for class.
“Please be nice you guys.”

“I’ll think about it,” Will relents as Gareth and El simply say “No.”

Max sighs, “El, come on. Please?”

El trails behind Max, “I’m not promising shit.”

“I figured,” Max sighs, accepting their lunchroom fate - If Lucas even bothers coming to their table.

“Did he not get the shovel talk from El?”

Will shrugs as they walk into their classroom and head to their seats, “I mean, Max is pretty scary on her own, so maybe she didn’t think it was needed?” 

“That is very true,” Gareth mumbles, getting his speech homework out, glancing up at Will as he gives him a disapproving look. “What? It’s for sixth period, I’ll get it all done before then.”

“If it’s not done at lunch I’m gonna tell Max to bully you.”

“Fair enough,” Gareth nods, turning his attention to his papers as Will pulls out a paper to doodle on while class starts. 

—

Lucas walks into Geometry, bypassing his seat from last week and takes his old one, next to Max.

She and Dustin both give him a surprised look before turning back to the front of the classroom.

Lucas knows he deserves whatever they decide to do, but he hadn’t expected the silent treatment. 

Towards the end of class, while the teacher is preoccupied, he finally scribbles ‘ Meet me on the football field at lunch to talk? ’ on a piece of paper and passes it to Max, who huffs and rolls her eyes.

She passes it back a minute later, a little more forceful than needed.
‘ Your friends going to tell on me again? ’

He quickly shakes his head, scribbling ‘ Please? ’ in big bold letters. 

Max finally relents, nodding. 

“And so, class, do questions three through thirty, due by wednesday. That’s two days, I want no excuses.”

“See you at lunch?” Lucas asks, checking, before he rushes out of the room to his next class.

Max nods, shoving papers in her backpack. 

“The fuck is happening at lunch?” Dustin asks, slinging his bag on his shoulder.

Max hands over their note, getting a skeptical look from Dustin.
“After what his friends did? I wouldn’t go, Red.”

“It’s Lucas, Dustin. I doubt he’s planning on trying to get me in trouble.”

“You’re thinking of nerd Lucas, this is Jock Lucas. They’re different people.”

Max rolls her eyes as she heads out of the classroom.
“He’s the same Lucas, Dustin, he’s just stressed out.”

Dustin scoffs, “Yeah right. He bailed on a date and thought you were selling drugs, totally the same Lucas.”

Max glares at him, not getting a change in attitude, and instead getting a sassy glare right back.

Sitting through Latin is almost torture. Dustin won’t stop looking at her between notes, like she’d change her mind and let him know as soon as she did. She’d never been more thankful when the bell rings, quickly shoving her stuff in her bag. 

“Sissy-!” 

“See you in english,” She says, rushing out of the room before she can get another lecture.

She makes her way to the football fields, ignoring Beth’s confused stare and Will’s question as to where she’s going.

“Max!” Lucas calls, walking up.

“So, talking to me again?” Max asks, not offering much more, glaring towards the woods instead. If he wanted to do this away from their friends, she plans on being just a tad stubborn. After last week, she decided it was warranted.

Lucas sighs, scrubbing his hand over his face.
“That was…”

“Shitty,” Max supplies, having a whole list of words he could use, actually. She’d written it out after she finished her to do list the day before at work.

“Shitty,” He agrees with a nod, “My coach’s been riding my ass to practice more, and hang out with my teammates, and I got a little caught up on thursday and lost track of time.”

Max just stares at him.

“Max -”

“Just because you got picked as a starter doesn’t mean you can treat me like shit, Lucas.”

“You’re right. I was an ass, and I did a lot of shit I shouldn’t have.”

“You’re right, you were an ass.”

“I - I deserve that.”

Max huffs, shaking her head, “Mike told me about the scrimmage.”

“You don’t have to come, but I would like it if you did.”

“Today after school, you go to the skatepark with me and I’ll go watch balls being tossed in laundry baskets. Even trade off, you don’t even have to skate with me, just hangout.”

Lucas snarls his nose but starts to agree before he sighs.
“I can’t today, I’ve got -”

“Practice,” Max huffs, “Yeah, I know, shocker .”

“I’ll find a time, I swear.”

“You know what, it’s fine, Lucas.”

Lucas scrunches his face in confusion as he watches Max wince as she shifts her weight.
“Is your leg okay?”

It’s a simple question, and Max knows he isn’t trying to get on her nerves, but it strikes one nonetheless. 

“My leg is fine , Lucas. I got pushed into the barricade one too many times Saturday.”

“But Mike was with you, right?”

“Yeah, so was Hawk, and Eddie, and Steve.”

“Right, Hawk was there to save the day,” Lucas grumbles.

“Oh my god,” Max screeches, “I have friends outside the party, is that so bad?”

“That’s not it-“

“You have your little jocks!” She continues, “And I never say shit about them!”

“My little jocks,” Lucas repeats, “Max they are my teammates, I have to hang out with them!”

“Oh, the pom poms too?” Max snaps, stumbling as she tries to whip around to head back inside the school. 

“The fuck does that even mean?” Lucas snaps back.

“You know what it means.”

“No, I don’t! And don’t call them that, you sound like Eddie.”

Max shrugs.

“Fine,” Lucas sighs, “Let’s just go see a movie after my practice is over or something.”

“What’s even playing?” Max asks, “You promised the next one we see I get to pick.”

Lucas looks less than thrilled at that idea.
“Come on, Babe. I hate watching horror movies, I don’t even get how you can after everything.”

“Because they’re fake!” Max hisses, “I told you that! I like to watch something and be able to tell myself it's not real, especially after Vecna.”

“Okay, well, I don’t.”

“You promised I wouldn’t have to watch another sci fi in a theater. The last time I picked was June, when we went with Mike and El.”

Lucas huffs, “Jesus -! Max, you’re being difficult on purpose.”

“I’m not,” Max mumbles, knowing that was only partially true, “Okay, fine. What about just coming to my house after practice? We can listen to music or something.”

Lucas grimaces, “ Your music?”

“I guess not?” Max says, shrugging, “We never listen to my music anyway unless Mike and El are with us.”

“You don’t like my music.”

Max’s face scrunches in confusion, “It’s fine, I guess, I mean it won’t kill me to listen to it.”

“Right,” Lucas scoffs, “You never do shit I wanna do, Max.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you? All I did was suggest hanging out at the Park, Lucas, how’d we end up on me hating your music?”

“So you admit it?”

“Admit what?”

“You hate my music,” Lucas huffs, pointedly looking back at the school instead of her. 

Max shakes her head, turning to head back to the school, “The guys were right, you got back around the jocks and changed.”

“The guys were right or Mike was right?” Lucas yells, making Max stop and turn back around a few steps away.

“What’s that even mean?”

“Mike spends more time with you than I do now, Max.”

“What? I - Lucas what are you even getting at?”

Lucas shrugs, “Forget it, I’ll see you in class.”

Lucas sulks past Max, leaving her confused as she slowly heads back to the school to the English room.

Lucas relocates again, across the classroom from Max and the others.

“I was so full of hope, joy even,” His teammate grumbles, “Why the hell are you back? Your little satanic pet freak is staring at us again.”

Lucas shrugs, “Just to piss you off.”

“Well, it’s working,” His teammate mumbles, side-eyeing Lucas for not even trying to correct him.

Dustin nudges Max’s arm once every one is settled, nodding towards Lucas.

Max shrugs, “Didn’t go very well.”

“I will kick his ass,” El states, making Max crack a small smile.

“It’s fine, El.”

“What happened?”

Max sighs, “You were right, Dusty.”

Dustin starts to open his mouth to say ‘ I normally am, thanks ’, before stopping himself.
“Sorry, Max.”

—

“I think this is the first day we don’t have homework,” Mike says, staring into his tornado of a locker at his books, loose papers, and graded homework.

“Are you guys still coming over?”

“Dustin’s gonna help me with some algebra shit, if that’s okay.”

Max bites back a smile, nodding her head as she shuts her locker.
“That’s fine, B.”

“Hey, I have work in like, twenty minutes,” Gareth announces as he walks up, stopping long enough to discreetly squeeze Will’s forearm and make sure he heard him.

“I already planned on going with Ed, have fun at work b - Gare,” Will catches himself, glancing at Beth. She’s too caught up in her locker to even notice - or at least pretends not to have.

Gareth snarls his nose, making Will laugh.
“Kelly’s closing with me.”

Max and Will both make the same face Gareth did.

“Exactly!” Gareth yells as he walks off. 

“Anyway,” Will mumbles, “I have another painting due next week, so can I go ahead and sketch someone for it today?”

“You’re not drawing me again,” El states, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and heading outside.

Will looks around at the rest of the group hopefully, getting a very quick head shake from Mike and Max.

”You actually sketch people for that?” Beth asks, “I just make shit up and roll with it.”

“It has to be real people.”

“How’s she gonna know I didn’t really paint my sister and our nonexistent cat?”

Will stares at her in shock while Max snorts out a laugh.
“I had that class last year, I painted so many of my neighbors it wasn’t even funny,” She and Beth start out of the school, both giggling. “Did I have an old lady down the road that watered her garden? Nope, but I did for my project.”

“See,” Beth says, looking over her shoulder at Will, “She gets it.”

“You two are the reason I have migraines,” Will states, rolling his eyes and making the girls burst out into giggles again.

Steve is already waiting on them by the time they filter out, El already having claimed the front seat with a grin.

Will, Max, Dustin, and Beth all squeeze in the back seat while Mike squishes in the front with El.

“You need a bigger car,” Max huffs, finally giving up and sitting on Will’s lap. “Sorry.”

“Better you than Dustin,” Will states, getting an annoyed huff out of Dustin. 

“Well, normally I don’t have Will or Beth in here, so it works out.”

“I’m fine with this,” Mike states, getting an eye roll from the back seat and a half hearted smack from Steve. 

“Stopping at Beth’s first?”

“No, she’s gonna hang out with us,” Dustin says.

“How many times have I told you not to hold people hostage?” Steve mutters, putting the Beemer in gear and pulling away from the sidewalk.

Beth laughs, “No, he’s gonna help me with some homework.”

Steve looks at El and Mike in the passenger seat, with his eyebrow cocked up.

El and Mike both nod, smirking.

“Oh, okay,” Steve says, a smile on his face he knows the back seat can’t see. 

They pull up at the same time as Eddie does, all piling out and rushing for the door.

Eddie goes to lean into Steve as soon as the front door is closed, until Steve not so subtly nods towards the dining room where Beth and Dustin were setting up their books.

“Oh, uh, hi Beth.”

“Hi Eddie,” She responds without so much as blinking at the almost-kiss.

“We’re gonna be upstairs if you guys need us,” Steve says, already heading there with Eddie.

“‘Kay,” Most of the kids call, none of them giving them a second glance. 

Will sets up in the middle of the living room, set to sketch whoever would be still long enough. 

El ends up putting a great white cassette in and sprawls out on a couch with a Stephen King novel she stole from Max’s room.

“Can you read that one?” Max asks, taking up residence on the other end with a different book.

“What dad does not know, will not hurt him.”

“I’m telling,” Will says weakly, not even remotely meaning it as he settles on sketching Max and El, whether they agree or not.

“Do it and I’ll tell him you had a hickey,” She states without looking up from her book, making Max and Mike howl with laughter.

“I did not!”

“I’m aware,” El says, smirking as Mike laughs harder. 

Mike sits in the middle between the girls, letting El shift around and lean against him while she reads.

“So,” Mike says after a second, “What happened?”

Max sighs, putting her bookmark back in her book, “He apologized, and I told him I’d go tomorrow if he went to the skatepark with me tonight.”

“And?” Mike prompts.
“He agreed, right?” El asks, looking up from her own book.

“He said no, blamed practice. And then tried to talk me into going to the movies.”

Mike shrugs, as El wrinkles her nose, returning to her book.
“Safe option I guess,” Mike states.

“Another nerd movie.”

“I see where he lost you,” Mike nods, “So, not hanging out then?”

Max shrugs, “At first he said no to hanging out here, then after Bio he said he’d see me after practice so, who knows.”

“He’s a dumbass.”

“He also doesn’t like us hanging out now?” Max sighs, “I don’t know.”

Mike gives her a signature scowl as he motions to El, “Because I am totally planning on stealing you?”

Max gives him a disgusted look, “That’s disgusting.”

“Threw up in my mouth just saying it.”

~

Lucas is in a daze at practice, barely paying attention as Mark almost gets him in the face with a ball.

“Dude, snap out of it,” Trevor says, “You’re gonna get us all in trouble, man.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Lucas shakes his head, “Distracted.”

“Thinkin’ about your girlfriend again?” Derek huffs.

Lucas rolls his eyes, opting not to respond. 

“How is that goin’?” Mark asks, “She was acting all off at work last night.”

Lucas shrugs, “It’s fine, I guess.”

“Really?” Mark asks, “She got a visit from some guy before closing.”

Lucas nearly trips, “Wait, what? Who was it?”

Mark shrugs, “Uh, I don’t know. I was in the back trying to find a rental case that wasn’t cracked and when I came back up some dude in a satan jacket was leaned up on the counter talking to her.”

“Satan -? Wait, you mean a Battle vest?”

Mark snaps, pointing to Lucas with a nod, “That’s the word. Battle vest, thing with all the satanic shit on it.”

“It’s not - nevermind,” Lucas slowly turns back around, bounding the ball a few times before shooting it, missing the fist bump between Mark and Derek as they smirk.
“Huh, guess it was her concert buddy,” Lucas finally says, trying to remember how old Mike said Hawk is.
Lucas guesses if Eddie knows the guy's older brother, he’d have to be somewhere around their age, but he can’t figure out why he would drive all the way to Hawkins to see Max at work.

“Who was it? Emerson?” McHale leans over to whisper once Lucas runs down the court.

Mark scoffs out a laugh, “It was Wheeler, he came up there to bring her something to drink and tell her about the scrimmage tomorrow. I was behind the counter with them the whole time.”

“Nice,” McHale chuckles.

Lucas decides to skip Max’s and wherever the team was heading after practice and just head home, choosing to ignore his teammates for the rest of practice unless he has to talk to them. 

—

Max feels stupid, sitting on the couch where she can hear the phone and see the door at the same time. 

“Why are you acting like a watchdog?” Eddie asks, walking in to climb over the arm of the recliner to cram himself in the same chair as Steve, who simply smiles and tries to move enough to let Eddie in.

“Feeling the need to be in my personal space, Eds?”

“Yeah,” Eddie mumbles, “I can move -”

Steve quickly shifts around to wrap his arms around Eddie before he can move, “No, you’re fine.” 

She tries to hide her smile behind her fist as she watches them, propping her chin up on the arm of the couch with it. 

After they get situated, and Eddie is practically laying on Steve, he looks over Eddie’s head at her.
“Okay, why are you acting weird?”

Max sighs, shrugging.
“Lucas said he’d come by after practice.”

Steve mutely mouths ‘ ohh ’, nodding, before going back to whatever they’re watching. 

“Call his house and see if he’s there,” Eddie says.

Max starts to say no, but gets up and heads to the phone anyway, dialing the number.

“Hello?”

“Erica? Is uh, Lucas there?”

There’s noise on the other end like Erica pressed the phone to her shoulder like Susan used to do.
“Yeah, the asshole’s here hang on.”

“ Erica! ” Mrs. Sinclair scolds in the background, not getting an understandable response from Erica.  

“Hello?” Lucas finally picks up the phone.

“Oh, yeah, um, I thought you’d said you were coming over.”

“Forgot,” Max can practically hear the shrug that goes with that, “I’m super tired, Max, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Max says, the word ‘sorry’ having lost all meaning at this point.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah, tomorrow.”

“Um,” Max mentally scolds herself as she wraps the phone cord around her fingers, “I’ll come to the scrimmage tomorrow. It’s not at home right?”

“Summerton south,” Lucas says, “I’ll tell Steve everything in the morning.”

“Great,” Max tries to keep the peppiness in her tone as Steve and Eddie nearly hang out of the chair to look at her, “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah, bye Max.”
He hangs up before she can respond, quietly hanging the phone back on the cradle before letting out a shaky exhale.

“I’m gonna go to bed, night guys.”

Steve and Eddie both wave, calling out their goodnights as she heads upstairs, missing the worried looks they exchange.

~

Gareth pulls into the Hopper-Byers drive, nearly backing right back out until he sees Hopper sitting on the porch with Joyce. He mentally curses as he gets out and heads to the porch, kicking a rock all the way with him.

“Didn’t know you were coming over this late, Honey,” Joyce says with a smile, “Will didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, no, um -” Gareth stops himself from saying ‘ I didn’t want to go home yet ’ just before it tumbles out.
“I can go home, I just - impulsively stopped.”

Hopper stares at him for a second before nodding over his shoulder at the door, “Kids are watching TV.”

Gareth nods and heads inside, getting stopped by Hopper grabbing his arm.
“How’s your step dad these days?”

“Drunk,” Gareth says with a small, forced smile.

Hopper nods, letting go of his arm.
“Couch is open if you wanna stay. But only the couch, Emerson.”

“Thanks, Hop,” Gareth manages to mumble out as he opens the door.

“Gare?” El asks, confused. He awkwardly waves.
She points down the hall, “Will’s back there, um.”

“I don’t think I’m allowed back there, Ellie.”

El giggles, getting off the couch as she shakes her head, “Probably not, I’ll go get him.”

Gareth settles into their usual end of the couch as El heads down the hall, yelling for Will while Gareth tries to figure out what she's watching and coming up blank.

“Hey, how was work?” Will asks, sitting next to him.

“Oh, the usual. Andy came in, yelled to the store I was a satanist, Kelly laughed, and then I had to ring them out with a smile on my face.”

“Assholes,” Both El and Will mumble.

“You can change the channel,” El announces, taking her seat on the other end.

“Anything that is not Kelly talking about Cyndi Lauper is fine with me.”

“The whole shift?”

“The whole shift,” Gareth confirms.

“Is there even that much to talk about?” El asks, making Gareth laugh.

“You’d be surprised. It’s worse than Ed talking about Dio.”

“Jesus Christ,” Will mumbles, “That’s almost as bad as you talking about Metallica.”

Gareth narrows his eyes at Will, making him smile cheekily.
“I don’t even know why I came over here now.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Will quickly says, throwing his arms around Gareht’s neck like he was going to get up and leave.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Gareth chuckles, sliding his arm around Will’s waist and leaning in for a kiss.

“Ugh,” El groans, “Would you two stop being cute?”

“No,” Will says, turning to grin at El over his shoulder, “So, goin’ to the game tomorrow?”

“Lucas’?” Garth asks, waiting for a nod, “No, I better not.”

“Oh,” Will says, sounding dejected. 

“But, We can do something Thursday after hellfire?” He quickly offers.

“Okay, Thursday,” Will smiles, “Nothing good is on at the movies though.”

Gareth shrugs, “I’ll come up with something else. Just pawn El off on Mike.”

“Done,” El quickly agrees, “We had plans anyway.”

“What the hell are you two doing?” Will asks.

“Arcade,” El smiles, “He couldn’t go last week so we’re going this week.”

“you’re spoiled,” Gareth jokes.

“I know,” El says with a grin, shrugging, making both guys laugh.

Joyce walks in the door with Hopper behind her, smiling at the teens.

“We’re going to bed, Hop’s shift starts pretty early in the morning.”

“Couch only, Emerson,” Hopper reminds on his way past.

“Yes sir,” Gareth says, “I’ll stay my ass out here.”

“Good,” Hopper gruffly says, making Joyce roll her eyes with a smile.

“You know they’re not scared of you, right sweetheart?” Joyce asks once they’re almost down the hall, thinking they’re out of earshot of the teens.

“Mike is, and that’s the one that counts,” Hopper replies, followed quickly by the sound of Joyce swatting his arm.

“You promised you’d be nicer to him.”

“I promised I’d try -” Hopper says before their door clicks shut. 

“Mike is secretly his favorite, isn’t he?”

El scoffs, rolling her eyes.

“I think you’re his favorite, but Mike’s a close second I’m pretty sure.”

—

Mike grimaces at the cost to enter the game, even if he wasn’t the one paying for his or anyone else's entry fee.
“Two dollars to go in and watch two different groups play keep the ball? This is stupid.”

“Yeah, but that money goes towards like, gym upkeep and team uh, what’s it called, jerseys,” Eddie mumbles as he recounts the kids, and pulls the right amount out to hand to the gate worker, getting a surprised look from both Mike and Steve.

Mike turns to Steve, eyebrow raised as if to question Eddie’s statement, getting a nod from Steve in return, so he drops it.

“Two adults and six kids,” Eddie says, holding out the money.

“Six?” She questions, also recounting and joking, “All yours?”

“Nah,” Eddie laughs, slinging his arms around Max and Mike’s shoulders, “Only like three.”

Her eyes ghost over the kids one last time as she hands Eddie back his few dollars in change, trying to figure out if he’s joking or not, Steve guesses. “Right, well have fun,” She finally forces out with a smile.

El and Erica both smirk at her confused expression, trailing after Eddie and Steve as they make their way to the visitors' bleachers.
“Dad, dad, dad!” Erica chants, getting a crazy look from the gate worker when she hears her, “Can I get snacks?”

Eddie digs out cash to hand her, oblivious to the woman's confused stare, “You guys get snacks and then come find us.”

“‘Kay!” 

“Nachos?” Max asks, letting Erica pull her towards the concession.

“Yep, get us a drink too, Snaps.”

Max nods, turning to squint at the concession stand menu until El starts reading it off to her, with Mike’s help on a few of the words. 

Eddie lets Steve lead him up the bleachers to an open section before sitting down in the middle of it. Eddie follows his lead, sitting slightly too close, but he figured no one would bat an eye after the kids filled in around them.

The kids are warming up on the court, not needing Eddie’s immediate attention, so he glances around the gym until Steve elbows him.
“That bored already?”

“No,” Eddie shrugs, “The only time I’ve been in a gym is when I’m forced to, so..”

“So, now?” Steve jokes, making Eddie roll his eyes.

“If I didn’t want to be here, Stevie, I’d be at the trailer annoying Wayne.”

“Wayne’s at dinner with Claudia,” Steve reminds him, elbowing him again as he waves at Lucas when he notices them, grinning.

Eddie waves as well, mumbling out an ‘oh, right’ when he remembers Wayne did mention a dustin-free dinner for once. 

Since Dustin’s breakup with Suzie a couple weeks prior, he’d become a little too supportive of Wayne and Claudia. Steve assumes it's because after they’d gone fishing, Wayne slipped into a more dad-like role.
And as much as Dustin denied it, Steve knew he liked having a father figure that wasn’t a pair of twenty year olds. Steve got it, growing up without really having one led him to make some embarrassing calls to Wayne himself after he and Eddie started dating, and Wayne had made it clear Steve was more than welcome. For instance, after their washer went out and Wayne was his first phone call to ask what the hell to do. 

“Munson!”

Both Steve and Eddie jump, turning to look at the grinning, green haired kid standing next to Eddie.

“I thought that was you!”

“Hey Hawk, the fuck you doing here?”

Hawk nods towards the Tigers opposing team.
“My one of my brothers plays and uh, my girlfriend’s on the cheer squad, so my presence is required at most games. Hey Steve.” 

“Hey kid.” 

“Max is at concession with the rest of the assholes if you want to go annoy her.”

Hawk quickly takes off for the lobby.

“We need four nachos, five cokes, and two hot dogs,” Max orders.

“And six popcorns,” El adds on with a smile.

“Six cokes,” Gareth states, walking up behind them, “Please.”

The student worker’s eyes bulge as they total up their order.

“Gare! I thought you said you couldn’t come?” Will says, getting out of line to stand by Gareth, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans before he tries to grab Gareth’s hand.

“Donnie was drunk when I got home, so, decided to come here instead of dealing with that. Not late, am I?”

Will quickly shakes his head, “Haven’t started yet.”

El hands them the bottles of coke, pointing to the bleachers.

“We’ll go find Steve and Eddie,” Will says, getting shoo’ed off by Erica.

“Third row from the top, middle section,” Hawk states, making Max spin around.

“Hey asshole! What are you doing here?” Max grins.

“Nole plays, remember?”

“Shit, that’s right. your girlfriend, too, right?”

Hawk nods, “Yeah! She’s somewhere, last I saw she was flipping off one of your players, actually, I should probably double check what that was about.”

“Tall, short dirty blonde hair, cocky as all get out?” Max asks, waiting for Hawk to nod, “Yeah, that’s Derek.”

“So I should just save the time and beat his ass now?”

Mike snorts, “ Please , just make sure I can see it.”

“Red’s baby brother! What’s up man?” Hawk asks, making Mike sneer at Max.

“We’re the same age!”

“I’m older,” Max shrugs, making Dustin and Erica laugh as they get their order, sorting out who gets what.

Hawk ends up sitting with them, between Max and Mike, egging on their usual ‘fights’.

“Come on , Max. You can’t just say that Anthrax isn’t good because your brother likes them! That’s like, a cardinal sin!”

“It is not !” Max scoffs, “They are not better than Slayer.”

“You’ve created monsters,” Steve mumbles, getting a nod in return from Eddie as he grins, shoving a nacho chip in his mouth.

“I know, and I’ll live with the consequences.”

Steve quietly laughs, shaking his head as Eddie just looks somewhere close to proud.

~

“ Sinclair !” McHale yells, nearly colliding with Lucas as he skids to a stop, “Stacy was just out there getting water, and saw Max flirtin’ with some guy.”

Lucas snorts, “Right, man, I’m sure.”
He skirts around him to grab his water bottle. 

“I’m serious!”

Lucas sighs as Derek joins in.
“Oh, yeah. I figured you knew him, they seemed pretty close.”

“You didn’t see shit, Brooks,” Lucas snaps, “Fuck off.”

Derek backs away with his hands raised, smirking.

Pretty soon, they head out to the bench, the game ready to start. Derek all but grabs his jaw to force him to look into the stands at Max and who he assumes is Hawk, just by the hair and battle vest.

“Told you.”

“Yeah, asswipe,” Lucas grumbles, shoving Derek off of him, “I do know him. He’s her friend that goes here, now fuck off.”

“Friend?” Derek asks, “Or is that the concert buddy that visits her at work?”

“Yes, friend. It’s a person you like so you don’t plan their murder, I assume you don’t have any of those?”

One of the cheerleaders standing by their bench hides a giggle behind her pompom, trying to force a straight face as Derek sputters indignantly.
“I have friends, Sinclair!”

“Then you should understand the concept, Brooks, now focus on the fucking game and not my girlfriends social life.”

This time, several cheerleaders snicker behind their hands and pompoms and a handful of players openly laugh until their coach turns around to give them a weird look. 

~

Max thought she understood basketball perfectly fine. She’d listened to Billy growing up, watched it with Steve and Lucas, played it with Lucas once or twice after their family road trip even. But trying to follow what’s going on outside the basics is kicking her ass.

She leans over to Steve, “Help.”

“McHale needs to pass the ball to either Lucas or Brooks or we’re fucked.”

“Thank you,” Eddie and Max both state with a nod, sitting back up straight to watch as McHale passes it to Lucas, who takes off down the court. 

Neither one needs help understanding that’s good, or that Lucas needs to throw the ball. 

When he makes the shot, Eddie cheers louder than Steve, making Lucas glance into their little section with a grin.

“Nerd,” Erica scoffs, mostly to herself.

“Be nice, Sinclair,” Steve warns, getting an eye roll in return.

The rest of the game goes about the same. Eddie leaning over to ask questions about every five seconds, Steve patiently explaining with a small smile. Max alternates between asking Hawk and Steve what the hell is going on a handful of times. Mike chooses to sit in silence, confused, the whole game besides the snips he can catch from Steve and Hawk.
Lucas makes most of Hawkins’ points, helping them win in a landslide. 

“We won, right?” Mike asks, getting several looks of ‘are you shitting me’.

“We won, doofus,” Max confirms, “Just - say congrats to Lucas and pretend to know what’s going on.”

“That I can do.”

The kids file out to the parking lot, all waiting for Lucas.

“Tell Lucas I said good job, I gotta head home,” Gareth says, waving to Eddie.

Will looks at Steve and Eddie, and back to Gareth, almost pleadingly. Steve shoots him a small nod, pushing him towards Gareth as he walks away.
“Gare! Can I get a ride back?”

El opens her mouth, quickly getting it covered by Eddie as he hisses out ‘ let your brother spend time with his boyfriend ’.

Gareth just grins, stopping his strides to the car so Will can catch up. Steve subconsciously scans the parking lot, making sure no one was paying attention to them as they head off to Gareth’s car, intertwining pinkies that only Steve seems to catch.

Eddie finally drops his hand, getting a dirty look from El. “I was just gonna remind Will he’s staying at your house.”

“Gare’s probably gonna end up there too, El, stop trying to boss your brother around.”

El huffs, crossing her arms and turning away from Eddie, making Steve stifle laughter. 

Once Lucas makes it outside, he spots his group fairly quickly. Steve is trying to ref an argument between Erica and Dustin over whether or not aliens could exist and Erica getting sassy because she’s losing, and Eddie is pointedly ignoring El leaning on Mike half asleep while he and Max talk to Hawk. 

Max loudly laughs, pushing Hawk away from her.
“You asshole!”

“Whatever, Red, See you later!”

Eddie and Max both wave as Hawk rushes to catch up with who Lucas assumes has to be his girlfriend, slinging an arm around her shoulders and flipping off Derek who’d followed her out of the gym.
Lucas snickers at Derek’s confused expression as he just stops on the middle of the sidewalk to stare at them heading towards Hawk’s - he assumes - car.

“Lucas!” Max yells, gaining everyone's attention, “You did great.”

Mike and Dustin both give her a weird look, as El stares Lucas down. He hadn’t even talked to Max since at school after the phone call after practice, but Mike guesses she’s trying to keep from telling Steve about what’s going on. 

Steve takes his bag from him, lightly laughing, “Even though she had no clue what was going on, Lucas.”

“Sounds about right,” Lucas forces a laugh, looking over his shoulder to glance around the parking lot at his teammates. “So, uh, was that Hawk?”

“Oh! Yeah, his brother plays.”

“Which one was he?”

“The one on the bench,” Erica states, “Like you last year.”

“Yet he comes to support him? My god, Erica could learn something.”

“You nerd, I was at all but one of your games, shut it.”

“Except the one I got to play in!” Lucas yells, annoyed to only the point Erica drives him to.

“No one went to that one,” Erica helpfully reminds with a smirk Eddie knew was about to start something, if she hadn’t already.

“I was there,” Steve interjects, pushing Erica towards the van, “I cheered Lucas on while you were being nerds. Let's all go home, before two of my children have a fist fight in the parking lot.”

“My bets on Dustin and Erica,” Eddie says, happily trailing after Steve while Lucas and Max laugh at Dustin sticking his tongue out at Erica.

The rest of the group head to the van, all piling in. 

Erica ends up talking Eddie into getting control of the radio while Dustin grumbles it’s against the rules. 

“Sucks to suck, Henderson,” She sassily says with an evil grin, forcing them to listen to Madonna the whole way home just to annoy Dustin and Lucas.

By the time they get back into Hawkins it’s too late to make the drop off rounds, so the kids all opt to stay at Steve and Eddie’s, heating up any leftovers they could find as sustenance. 

Eddie half expects them to just crash around the living room, but Max and El head off to her room without a word while Erica heads to Robin’s and the guys fight over furniture.

“I’m gonna smoke and then I’ll be up, sweetheart.”

“I might be asleep by the time you get up there, Babe,” Steve states around a yawn, trailing after the girls.

“Okay, Stevie.”

Eddie watches them with a smile before heading outside with his lighter and singular cigarette, determined to cut down on smoking, plopping down on a lounge chair and lighting it. 

Eddie gets a couple of drags before he startles at Mike slipping outside.
“Hey, dad?”

“You’re not getting one, Wheels.”

“Gross, no. I think I need to talk to you about Lucas.”

Eddie turns his full attention to Mike, snubbing out his cigarette on the concrete.

“It’s getting worse, I think.”

“How bad is worse?”

Mike shrugs, scuffing his shoe on the pavement while Eddie patiently waits.

“Well, okay, did she tell you they talked at lunch yesterday?”

“Didn’t know they hadn’t been talking,” Eddie says.

Mike groans, taking the other lounge chair, “God damn it, okay…”

—

By the time Mike had stopped giving Eddie every single piece of information he’d wormed out of either Max, Dustin, or Lucas himself, it was close to midnight. Mike promptly crashed into one of the recliners, not even bothering to try and find a blanket and narrowly avoiding sharing with Lucas.

“You smoke a whole pack?” Steve bitchily asks as the door creaks open.

“Um, no. I’m sorry, baby, Mike was telling me some shit. I can go crash with them if -”

“Get your ass in bed, Munson, I’m cold,” Steve says, lifting the covers and glaring, only one eye open.

Eddie chuckles, making his way to the bed, “My apologies sweetheart, tell your son to become a more efficient storyteller.”

“Not my son,” Steve sleepily slurs, immediately pulling Eddie to him, “All yours.”

“If he’s all mine, then Dustin’s yours.”

“‘dopted. Ask Max.”

Eddie snickers, “Right, I’ll tell him you said that first thing in the morning.”

“No,” Steve whines, “I have to drive him to school in the morning.”

Eddie laughs, curling around Steve.
“Right, I’ll keep my mouth shut then, Stevie.”

“Better,” Steve yawns, “What’d Wheels tell you?”

Eddie sighs, “In short? That you should knock some sense into Lucas.”

Steve pries an eye open again, looking at Eddie, “Long version?”

Eddie sighs again, resting his head on Steve’s shoulder.
“I don’t think he really knows everything, but Lucas has been avoiding Max for almost a week, if not longer. And, Monday, they had a huge fight about god knows what and it made Max cry in the bathroom according to El. He said Max didn’t make sense and Lucas’ story didn’t match Max’s like he didn’t even know what the fight was about. But, Lucas is being an ass.”

Steve sighs, scrubbing his eyes.
“He made her cry?”

“I don’t think he knows that part, El told Mike.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“Good, because I think El is plotting his death.”

Steve snorts out a humorless laugh.
“I’d expect nothing less.”

—

Lucas had ignored Max most of the day, even if he had set with them at lunch. She can barely focus on music history as the teacher drones on, or her other homework she'd brought in to work on.

“Psst,” one of Lucas’ teammates chunks a wadded up piece of paper at Max, smacking her directly in the back of her head, “ Psst ! Mayfield!”

Max looks over her shoulder to throw him a scowl as he furiously points to the paper that bounced off her head.
Curiosity kills the cat, she picks it up and unwads it, smoothing it out the best she can. 

‘ Munson still deal? ’

She looks back to shake her head.

He points at her with his eyebrows raised. She points at herself, mouthing ‘ do I ?’, getting an enthusiastic nod in return. She shakes her head again, shrugging and mouthing ‘ sorry ’, not feeling so in the least bit.

She crumples the paper back up and shoves it in her pocket, turning back to the front to focus on Music history, or at least appear to be, while she finishes her English paper that’d been assigned the previous hour while Gareth stares rather blankly at the front of the room. Max is completely sure he’s asleep with his eyes open at this point, and honestly, it wouldn’t surprise her. She doesn’t think she’s seen him pay any attention at all in music history the whole two or so weeks of school.

Another paper smacks the back of her head, making her force herself to take a deliberate, long inhale before she picks it up to unwad it to read it.

‘ Do any of your freaks sell Red? Party this Saturday & need goods. You and Sinclair invited. ’

She writes no in big, bold letters, staring at it for a second before adding ‘sorry, none of hellfire does that anymore’ and wadding it up and tossing it back to him.

She’s actually pretty sure Eddie does still deal, certain things to certain people anyway seeing as he technically deals to Steve, Jonathan, Argyle, and a handful of stoners still in Hawkins he was friends with before Vecna. And Gareth definitely sells weed out of the record shop on the weekends when his manager isn’t there, but she doesn’t feel the need to distribute that information at this moment in time. If they don’t know, then there's a reason.

The annoyed huff lets her know he read it, before crumpling it back up to toss in the trash. 

“McHale, this is not the basketball court, and I am not a coach. Either pay attention, or leave.”

“My bad, teach!”

She rolls her eyes, turning back to write another fact on the board about Big Band music, making both Gareth and Max sigh.

Max slouches back in her seat, rereading the homework she’s working on before deciding it was good enough, and stuffing it in her notebook.

“Alright class, remember I have to have the artist or band you’ll be doing your big projects over by next monday, so think about it over this weekend, do some research.”
Gareth raises his hand, their teaching taking a very long exhale, pinching the bridge of her nose before looking at him.
“No, Mister Emerson, your own band does not count, even though Munson made a very compelling argument last year.”

Gareth and Max both deflate, huffing as the bell rings.
“You watch, by the time Erica takes this class, we’ll count.”

“I have no doubts, Gare. As long as the new guitarist works out.”

After Hopper’s so called ‘slip up’ to Garet that led to the living room concert, Eddie had all but begged Mike to take the empty spot. Steve had even agreed, which seemed to be the reason Mike had even agreed to begin with. 

“We shall see!”

Max snorts out a laugh, “See what? If he gets stage fright?”

Gareth shrugs, “Jeff thinks he will.”

Max shoots him a warning glare to pick his next words very carefully .

“I didn’t say I did!”

“You implied it,” She grumbles, slinging her backpack over her shoulder with a little too much enthusiasm and hoofing it out of the room to meet Lucas and Dustin in biology.

“Red, come on ! I was joking!” Gareth yells after her, getting the finger in response.
“Jesus, she said it first,” Gareth grumbles, slinging his own bag over his shoulder as he stalks out of the room.

Max rounds the corner, not watching where she’s going and nearly smacks into Mike.
“Jesus H. Christ,” Max huffs, shoving Mike out of her way.

“You’ve been around Eddie too much,” Mike retorts, “Hey, this Saturday we open, right?”

Max shrugs, “Um, yeah, I think so. Why?”

“Eddie called Gare during lunch,” Mike says, “We’re gonna play at the hideout Saturday. But, I gotta go find El, she walked off with Beth.”

“Better hurry,” Max turns to yell down the hall, “If you’re not careful Beth’ll tell her some other rockstar your hair looks like!”

Mike simply flips her off, making Max laugh as she slips in the biology room.

She takes her seat between Lucas and Dustin, getting her notebook out.

“Hey, Lucas.”

“Hm?” He barely looks up from his notebook.

“This saturday I’m planning on going to another show, wanna come with me?”

“What, no Hawk this time?” Lucas huffs, continuing without waiting for a response. “I have plans, can’t.”

“Oh, um, okay. What plans? Maybe I can meet you after.”

“Nothing you’d be interested in, Max.”

Dustin leans over to glare at Lucas while Max slouches in her seat.
“Got it.”

“Max I’m serious, you wouldn’t like it. It’s a jock thing.”

Max cuts her eyes at him before flipping her notebook open to take notes without responding.

“You fucked up, Lucas,” Dustin mumbles, getting a glare from Lucas he ignores as he steals a piece of paper from Max to take notes on. 

— 

They didn’t have a lot of homework as a group, so Beth left about an hour in, and El already had the book she’d started out on the couch reading to Iron maiden - music choice courtesy of Mike today - while the others filtered into the living room. 

“Holy shit,” Mike mumbles, “I gotta play Saturday. In front of people.”

“Wait, since Max gets to go, can I go?” Will asks, “I wanna see Gare play.”

“Yeah!” El quickly chimes in, “I wanna see Mike play!”

Gareth blushes, “Oh, you don’t have to come, babe. It’s our first show since the earthquakes, Mike’s first show…”

“Yes,” Max says with an eye roll, effectively ending whatever Mike had opened his mouth to say, “The hideout doesn’t ID people, so it’s fine as long as you don’t drink.”

“Should I tell Hop I’m spending the night here?” Will asks, getting an enthusiastic head nod from El behind him.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Gareth interjects before Max can answer, “If you come you are not lying to Hop and your mom. The man likes me, I am not jeopardizing that!”

Eddie lets a laugh slip out before he can stop it, as Mike looks down right butt hurt.
Steve has to go upstairs to avoid laughing, Eddie following him openly laughing, loudly.

“Just tell Hop we’re all going,” Max laughs, “Right, guys? We’re gonna go support Mike.”

Everyone but the Sinclair's agree.
“I’m going to Tina’s this weekend.”
“I’ve got plans, like I said.”

Mike looks at Lucas confused, “Plans?”

He nods, “With my teammates. Been planned for a week.”

The realization hits Max, remembering being asked if she sold weed for McHale’s party. She knows she doesn’t keep the pissed expression off her face as she nods.
“At McHale’s, right?”

“Babe, come on, we’re just gonna go hang out.”

“Again?” Mike scoffs.

“Again? What does he mean again, Lucas?” Max looks between Mike and Lucas, overly confused.

“I went last weekend while you were at the show,” Lucas shrugs, “It’s no big deal.”

Will looks flat out confused, along with El and Erica.
Gareth and Dustin share a knowing look of ‘ are you shitting me ’. 

“So, you were hungover at the store?” Mike asks, making Max glare at Lucas.

Lucas shrugs it off with a nod, “Yeah, so what?”

“You drank last weekend?” She asks, crossing her arms as she narrows her eyes even more.

The three not in the know all quickly mumble out ‘ ohhh ’s and Erica scoffs.

“I mean, just beer,” Lucas tries to shrug off his lie again, deciding to leave out the part where he’d drank spiked punch and god knows what else after that, with how terrible he felt the next morning.

Gareth and Mike both slouch back in their seats, watching Lucas and Max with wide eyes as Max's expression goes just south of ‘pissy’. 

“Yeah, that’s drinking, Lucas.”

“It’s just beer! Don’t act like Eddie doesn’t sneak you shit at shows!”

“Eddie does not let me drink!” Max nearly yells, half waiting for Steve or Eddie to make their way back down stairs.

“Oh, whatever, Max. I know how Eddie is, I knew him before you did!” Lucas raises his voice, “He’d sneak you shit and not think twice about it.”

Max opens her mouth, deciding against it and snapping her jaw shut.

“Lucas, this really the hill you wanna die on, bud?” Gareth interjects, hoping to calm them both down, “Ed really doesn’t do shit like that to you guys and you know it.”

“It’s just beer,” Lucas reiterates, “I’ve drank it before.”

“You sound like Susan,” Max snaps.

“Well, at least I know when to stop!” Lucas snaps back, immediately dropping his jaw at what he’d said.

Will, El, and Dustin all mimic his expression, as Erica glares at Lucas. 

Mike pushes himself out of the chair, “Alright, that’s enough Lucas.”

“I didn’t mean -” Lucas starts, getting cut off by a very mad Max.

“Do you though?” Max asks, “Know when to stop? Because you’re starting to remind me of -”

“I can always walk home, Max,” Lucas insists.

Mike shoots him a warning look, side stepping to get in between them.

“Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out then, don’t you?”
“I do, yeah!”

Max works her jaw as she stares at Lucas.

“Lucas,” Steve says from the stairs, “Let's go practice man. Door, now, lets go.”

“I’ve got -”

“Homework? Do it later, let's go,” Steve walks to the door, holding it open.

Lucas stares at Max, who stares back silently. He finally relents, heading out after Steve.

Steve stays silent as he heads to the car, getting in and waiting for Lucas.

The drive to the court in the park is filled with more awkward silence. 

Steve sits on the picnic table rather than head onto the court, waving Lucas over to do the same.
“So, what the fuck, man?”

Lucas shrugs, picking at the basketball in his hands.

“Max didn’t tell us much, hell didn’t tell anyone much of anything, actually.”
Steve waits for a response from Lucas, not getting one past a glance up from the ball.
“Mike pieced it together, though.”

“That’s code for she told Mike and he told you.”

Steve huffs out a laugh, “He told Eddie, actually, who wanted me to knock some sense into you, by the way.”

Lucas scoffs, getting up to head to the court, “Are we gonna practice or not?”

Steve shrugs, staying seated.
“What’d she do last night?”

Lucas slowly turns, shrugging, “I dunno? Went to my game?”

“And every Thursday since school started?”

“Went to hellfire with everyone,” Lucas states, it coming out more like a question than anything.

“And what’s the last, let's say three movies you guys went and saw?” Steve asks calmly.

Lucas blankly stares at him before shrugging again.

“Who picked them? You or her?”

“Uh, I did. Max only really likes horror -”

“Great, so they were probably nerdy comedies or scifi’s?”
He doesn’t wait for Lucas’ reluctant nod, “When’s the last time you sat down and listened to her music with her?”

“Uh, Today -”

“I mean without Mike or El there.”

“Um,” Lucas sheepishly shrugs, “I don’t think I really have since school started?”

Steve nods, blowing out a puff of air.
“So, you never do anything she wants, and couldn't work around practice to make plans?"

Lucas shrugs again, toeing at a clump of dirt.

“Sounds like the shit I’d have pulled around your age.”

Lucas doesn’t answer.

“You know, Eds hates sports but he still watches it with me.”

“Max doesn’t hate sports or hellfire,” Lucas scoffs.

“No,” Steve agrees with a one shoulder shrug, “But Eddie hates half my music but he still puts it on nine times out of ten when we’re in the van. I can’t wrap my brain around DnD but I still listen to the campaign he’s writing when he goes off on a tangent about it.”

Lucas shifts his weight uneasily, staring at the ground.

“He put off working on a song he’s writing to read me some of my newest novel I got so my dyslexia wouldn’t give me a headache the other night,” Steve continues, “What I’m trying to say is, you can’t be an ass and still expect Max to bend over backwards. Sounds like she’s trying, Sinclair. Wouldn’t have killed you to ditch your new buddies for a few hours.”
Steve holds his hands out for the ball, waiting for Lucas to pass it to him.

“She asked me last minute.”

Steve scoffs, shaking his head.
“El asked Mike to go to the arcade with her at the last minute and when he couldn’t, he offered to go to her house for a movie night after work which meant having dinner with Hopper. I don’t know if you’ve met Mike, but that boy is scared shitless of Hopper.”

Lucas shrugs again, not having a response. 

“The skatepark was a last minute suggestion you could’ve done after practice,” Steve states, reaching over to take the ball, “The show was not. Either make time for your girlfriend or let her go.”
Steve gets up to head to the court,
“If I were you, I’d stop being an ass. But,” Steve dribbles the ball, “that’s just me.”

Lucas doesn’t respond, just mutely follows Steve.

“Oh,” Steve turns around, nearly making Lucas trip when he tries to stop, “And a bit of advice for partying.”
He waits for some form of acknowledgement, getting it in the form of a quick head nod.
“Don’t take anything you didn’t pour yourself and don’t smoke shit unless you know they got it from Eds.”

Lucas nods, not willing to tell Steve he’d already been doing the first thing without thinking twice about it.
“I don’t smoke with them.”

“Good,” Steve states, shooting the ball.
“If you ever drink too much, or something happens and you need to go home, just call us and I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks, Steve,” Lucas mumbles.

“But stop being a dick to your friends, Sinclair, they’re just worried about you.”

Lucas nods, heading to get the ball.

After shooting the ball a few times, Lucas turns to Steve.
“What’s Hawk like?”

“Like a kid that wants friends that understand him, Lucas,” Steve catches the ball as it bounces to him, “Max isn’t remotely into him.”

“Did he come see her at work on sunday?”

Steve shrugs, passing him the ball, “I don’t think so. Why?”

Lucas shrugs, turning to shoot the ball, “Just wondering, I guess.”

~

Max watches them leave before abruptly heading to her room and slamming the door.

Mike starts to follow her, getting stopped by Eddie.
“Let me, junior.”

Eddie heads upstairs, knocking on the door as he opens it.
“Hey, Max.”

Max ignores him, staring up at her ceiling fighting back tears. 

“So, wanna talk about it?”

“No,” Max whispers.

Eddie nods, heading over to sit on the bed next her.
“Fair enough.”

“You heard him?”

“Yep,” Eddie nods, “A real Douche Canoe move he pulled.”

“Yeah,” Max quietly agrees.

Eddie sighs, patting her arm like he isn’t sure what else to say.

“Dad,” Max finally looks at him, “Is this a blasting music thing?”

“I’d say it is,” Eddie nods as he gets up to head to Max’s collection of music.
“Slayer or motorhead?”

Max thinks for a second, mentally flipping through her options before kind of laughing.
“W.A.S.P, actually, Lucas hates them.”

“W.A.S.P it is!” Eddie states, grabbing the first cassette he sees, immediately singing along when the tape starts, making Max laugh.

—

Steve takes his time getting out of the car and into the house after their ‘practice’, letting Lucas go in ahead of him as he immediately heads to the kitchen with Eddie.

“Hey, I’m sorry.”

“You’ve said that a lot lately,” Max flatly says, crossing her arms. 

Lucas sighs, nodding. “Yeah, look, how about Saturday I go to Mike’s show, and then after I can go to Jackson’s. You can even come with me.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass.”

“Tomorrow after hellfire, then? Skatepark?”

Max stares at him for a second before scoffing, “You hate it there.”

“You don’t though, right after hellfire, we’ll go. Come on.”

Max twists to look at Eddie in the kitchen.

“Uh, be home before dark and should be okay,” He says.
Steve quickly adds in, “Not that we were listening.”

Both teens roll their eyes.

“Fine,” Max finally says, “Right after hellfire.”

—

Gareth had taken their group to the various households, letting Eddie and Max stay in her room and blast everything from W.A.S.P to Madonna, and now he pulls into the Hopper-Byers house.

He gets out with Will and El, waving to Joyce as they all head inside.

El immediately turns on the TV, flipping channels faster than the guys can pay attention. 

“Is homework done?” Joyce calls.

“Yep,” El and Gareth call back.
“Just my sketch,” Will yells.

“Oh, okay just making sure!”

El finally lands on a channel, watching the commercial for a second. 

“The zoo?” Will finally asks after looking at the TV.

El starts to say something, immediately shutting up and looking at Will and Gareth.

“What Janie?” Gare asks, slightly concerned.

El points to the TV, getting a weird look from both of them.
“Are those real?”

“Animals?” Will clarifies.

El quickly shakes her head, shutting back down.

“ Zoos ?” Gareth asks for a second.

El quickly nods once.

“Uh, yeah, they’re real,” Gareth says, “You’ve never been to one?”

“No,” El mumbles.

Gareth stares at her for a second, “Do you want to?”

El shrugs, “It looks fun.”

“Maybe we can talk Steve into taking us sometime,” Will shrugs.

Gareth stares at the TV long after the commercial ends before he looks at Will.
“Do you have plans on Sunday?”

Will shrugs, “Not that I know of, why?”

“Just wondering,” Gareth shrugs, slinging his arm around Will’s shoulders so he can pull him in and kiss his cheek, “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Will smiles, wrapping his arms around Gareth to hug him.
“‘Kay, bye babe.”

“Bye Joyce!” GAreth calls on his way out.

“Bye honey!”

Gareth heads to his car, driving straight home. 

He offers his mother a wave and ignores his stepdad as he heads straight to the phone, dialing the Wheeler’s.

“Wheeler’s residence,” Ted answers, sounding put out he’d had to answer the phone.

“Mike there?”

Ted grumbles, setting the phone down and walking a few steps away to yell, “Micheal, phone. One of your little satanic friends.”

After some shuffling, Mike finally picks up.
“Hello?”

“Wanna go do ritual sacrifices in the woods?”

Mike snorts, “Yeah sure, gimme a ride?”

Gareth chuckles, “What do you work Sunday?”

“Uhh, open, why?”

“Think we’d have time after you get off to take El to the zoo? She’s never been.”

“ What ?” Mike raises his voice, “How -”
He cuts himself off with a sigh, “That actually doesn’t surprise me.”

“So,” Gareth huffs, “Think we can go?”

Mike stays quiet for a second.

“Mike -”

“I’ll talk to Steve about getting off early Sunday.”

—

Lucas heads out of the school, scouting the parking lot for Steve or Eddie’s cars, not seeing them before realizing they’d biked that morning for a reason. 

“What time is the meeting of the nerds?” A fellow Sophomore jock, Trevor, asks.

“Uh, a few hours I guess, why?”

“Let's go shoot some hoops then, you’ve got time, right?”

He agrees, and they bike out to the park with Lizzy in tow, as the rest of the party bikes and skates off their separate ways for the most part. 

~

Max goes back to the school from her convenience store snack run at four, and she almost expected Lucas to be early, he isn’t there yet. She makes herself comfortable outside on the sidewalk, pulling out the newest novel she’d stolen from Eddie’s book shelf, Face of fear by Dean Koontz.

Mike is the first to bike up, El in tow with their own snacks, at four thirty. 

“Just you?”

“Yep,” Max says, “Haven’t seen anyone else.”

“Have you looked up from your book?”

“Nope.”

“Might be why you haven’t seen anyone.”

Max looks over the top of her book to scowl in Mike’s direction, getting a smirk as they both take seats on the sidewalk beside her, El asking about her book. 

Will and Gareth pull in shortly after, followed by Dustin and Beth at nearly four forty from studying at the library.
The three on the sidewalk all smirk at Gareth’s messed up curls.

“How was the food run?” Mike yells, getting the bird flipped in response, making him and Max cackle.

~

“What time did you have to leave again, Lucas?” Lizzy asks, double checking her watch.

“Uh, in a few minutes,” Lucas mumbles out his reply, actively trying to block a shot from Trevor.

Lizzy looks back at her watch, double checking that it says five fifteen.
“Oh, okay.”

Lucas doesn’t bother to check the time, cackling when Trevor’s shot bounces off the rim and towards Lizzy.

“Damn, I see why you’re a bench warmer.”

“Oh, fuck off, Sinclair!” Trevor scoffs, “Like you were any better last year.”

“I was, actually,” Lucas says, making himself and Lizzy laugh. 

Lizzy passes the ball back to Lucas, heading onto the court herself.
“You sure you don’t need to go?”

“What? No, it’s fine.”

~

“Is he even coming?” Gareth asks, as soon as the clock strikes five thirty.
He’d never been this late, and he knows they get kicked off of school grounds by eight at the latest.

“I guess not,” Max mumbles, trying not to cry as it dawns on her he’s probably blowing off their date, again . 

“Great,” Gareth sighs, “Okay, let’s just start.”

Max mutely nods, taking her usual seat by El, her otherside abnormally empty.

“Aye, no,” Gareth snaps towards Beth, “You are not sitting next to Max!”

“Why not?” Beth huffs, stomping back to her seat between Will and Dustin. 

“You’re still learning!”

“So?”

Gareth mutely points to Max. 

“I cause chaos!” Max states, a little too happily. 

“And I help!” El chimes in with a grin. 

Mike snorts out a laugh, pulling El in to press a kiss to her forehead, “You cause enough by yourself, baby.”

“Gross,” Gareth grumbles, “New rule, no PDA at hellfire.”

Mike and Max both scoff out ‘ sure ’.

~

Lucas cackles as he shoots another basket, too absorbed in his game to remember to check the time, completely forgetting it’s Thursday and he has hellfire, little alone a date with Max. 

Lizzy had joined them, a weird off kilter game being played as they teach Lizzy all the rules and whatnot to basketball. 

“Woah, Man,” Trevor says, checking the time, “It’s almost six.”

Lucas gives him a slightly confused look as he shrugs, “So?”

“Didn’t you have a date with Mayfield?”

Lucas checks his watch, shrugging again, “It’s not till later I think.”

“You think?” Lizzy nearly yells, “Lucas, come on!”

“It’s later, alright? I’m not missing shit, let's go.”

~

Max shoves her DnD notebook in her backpack with a huff as Gareth glances around the small room - closet, actually he’s pretty sure - they’d gotten shoved into at the beginning of the year.

“Red, do you need a ride again?”

Max looks up, glancing between him and Will, not missing Will’s silent plea to not need a ride, please. She’d laugh if she felt better, knowing full well they had plans.
“No, I’m good, I’m just gonna skate home.”

“Are you sure?” Gareth asks again, a little more forceful, reminding her of how Jon is with Will most of the time.

“Dads aren’t expecting me for a bit, I uh, had plans…” She trails off, not making eye contact with anyone as she forces her mouth into a hard line, willing herself to not show any emotion. 

“Claudia’s taking me home,” Beth pipes up, “I’m sure she can give you a ride, Red.”

Max shakes her head again, “No, I’m fine.”

She leaves before anyone else can say anything, especially Erica who Gareth let join after a verbal sassing from her, rushing down the hall and out of the school. 

“Sissy!” Mike yells, out of breath from running after her, causing her to stop, “Seriously, I can just take El home and -”

“I don’t want to screw up your date, Mike, I’m fine.”

Mike stares at her for a second before finally nodding.
“Fine, fine. I’ll call when I get home and if you need me to, I’ll bike over and we can stay up late watching shitty horror movies until we regret it tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Max forces out, staring at a crack in the concrete.

Mike bends down enough to make eye contact with her, “I can seriously just take El home.”

Max quickly shakes her head.

Mike pulls her into a hug, “I’m sorry you didn’t follow aunt Rob’s footsteps.”

Max sniffles against Mike, lightly laughing, “Yeah me too, boys fuckin’ suck. No offense.”

“None taken,” Mike shrugs, finally letting her go, “There’s a reason Hopper has a plan to get away with my murder on hand.”

Max snorts out a laugh, “I’ll radio when I get home.”

“Be safe, I’ll call you later.”

Max nods, stepping on her skateboard and pushing off towards her house.

Since they weren’t expecting her, she decides to take the long way, going through the park.

~

Lucas cackles as Lizzy blocks a basket from Trevor, nearly falling.

“Ha!” Lizzy yells, after steadying herself, “I did it, right?”

Lucas nods, still laughing, “Good job.”

“That hurt man,” Trevor mumbles, rubbing his chest where Lizzy’s shoulder rammed into him, making Lucas laugh harder.

Lizzy rocks back on her heels, grinning.

“It’s cold.”

Trevor vaguely points towards the picnic table where he and Lucas had stripped their letterman jackets and tossed them.
“Over there.”

Lizzy skips over, leaving Trevor still in pain. 

“You gonna live?” Lucas asks.

“Fuck off man,” Trevor mumbles, making Lucas snort out another laugh.

Lucas looks over to see Lizzy pulling on his letterman jacket. It feels… Wrong .
Before he can say anything, Trevor is passing him the ball and Lizzy is back on the court, still grinning at her victory over Trevor.

~

People playing basketball catch Max’s attention.
She’s well aware she has a type, so what.
She scoffs as she sees Lucas and another sophomore playing, someone she couldn’t think of the name of. A third person - the sophomore cheerleader, Lizzy - catches her eye, dribbling the ball up to the guys. 

Max’s stomach drops out of her ass as Lizzy turns around.
SINCLAIR big and bold across the back of the letterman she’s wearing. 

Lucas throws his head back laughing at something Lizzy says, making Max’s feet move without her permission towards home.

—

Steve makes his way inside after his shift - staying late to cover a call in until rush ended. 

“That’s it,” Eddie yells from the living room, “I demand you hire more people.”

“First thing Monday morning I’m opening up positions,” Steve agrees, flopping on the couch next to Eddie, who immediately curls into his side.

“Hire all the little shits so you can mom them if they don’t show up.”

Steve chuckles, shaking his head.
“Two of my children is enough.”

Eddie pouts, making Steve laugh, “Fine, don’t listen to your boyfriend. What do I know?”

“My boyfriend has shitty ideas,” Steve states, making Eddie scoff.

“Just for that, I’m not reading tonight.”
Eddie tries - unsuccessfully - to pull away from Steve to turn the TV on.

“No, I’m sorry, Eds -!” 

“Nope,” Eddie tries to stay serious, but giggling, “You’ve lost your chance!”

Edie reaches for the remote again, Steve reaching for their book, and both trying to hold the other back as they manically giggle.

Steve ‘wins’, holding the book up triumphantly.

“Fine, since you twisted my arm and all,” Eddie jokes, taking the book from Steve to open it to their bookmark while Steve shifts around on the couch for them to get more comfortable.

—

Will keeps looking from the windshield to the side windows, trying to figure out where Gareth’s taking him. 

“Are we lost?”

“No, it’s right up there,” Gareth points as he finally pulls the car to the side of the road and cuts the engine.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Gareth says with a grin, getting out to get something from his trunk before heading around to get Will out - he’s still sitting in the passenger seat, very confused.
“Coming?”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Gareth laughs, grabbing Will’s hand to haul him out of the car and down a small path to a cliff overlooking the quarry.

“Umm,” Will slowly looks around, ignoring Gareth for a second until he turns around.
“What -”

Gareth sits on the newly laid out blanket, “Picnic?”

“You planned -?”

Gareth nods.

“For me?”

Garth nods again, grabbing Will’s hand to pull him down next to him.
“I said I’d come up with something else besides what we’ve been doing.”

“Oh,” is all Will can manage as Gareth leans over to press a kiss to his cheek before digging out their food - sandwiches and what looks like cans of coke.

“Sorry, it’s not that fancy -”

“No!” Will quickly cuts him off, “No, it’s perfect, Gare.”

Gareth clears his throat, trying to busy himself so Will won’t see the blush spreading across his cheeks. 

“Does Hop know where we are? I mean, We’re probably gonna be late…” Will trails off.

“Yeah, uh, I told him in case we didn’t get back into town in time. He said to be back by eleven or we’re both grounded.”

Will laughs, reaching for a sandwich, “You’re definitely his favorite then.”

“Whatever,” Gareth laughs, getting his own food.

~

El shrieks giggles as she beats another arcade game, “Mike, Mike, Mike!”

“You’ve been getting lessons from Max,” Mike playfully accuses. 

El grins, “Maybe.”

“You two are gonna be the death of me,” Mike mumble, shaking his head as he smiles back at El. 

“Did you catch her before she left? Earlier?”

Mike nods, “Yeah, I’m probably gonna go over there after I drop you off. She needed some time without anyone around though, I think.”

“We’ve all been a little…” El trails off, staring at the wall frowning.

“Overbearing? Suffocating? Annoying?” Mike offers, trying to help her out.

“In her space.”

“Suffocating.”

“That,” El says with a nod.

“Yeah, probably so. You ready to turn the tickets in?”

El looks at the pile Mike has already as she hands over her new tickets, “Yeah, I think it’s almost nine anyway.”

“Hopper’s gonna kill me,” Mike mumbles as he adds El’s newest ticket additions to his pile and follows her up to the booth. 

“You know he actually likes you, right?”

“That’s a lie,” Mike says, piling El’s tickets on the counter.

El rolls her eyes as the attendant counts up their outrageous amount of tickets, eyeing them like they’re trying to figure out how they’d gotten so many.

“I want that,” El points to the giant stuffed animal.

Mike leans over to her as soon as the worker turns to climb and get it.
“You cheated at skee ball, didn’t you?”

El just smiles, shrugging.

“Good job,” Mike whispers, making her laugh as the giant bear gets handed over. 

~

Suddenly, Max flings the door open and drops her skateboard on the floor.
“Dad?” She tries to yell, sniffling, quickly making them untangle themselves, setting their book down and rushing to the entryway, “Can we go drive?”

Eddie nods, already reaching for his boots and keys, “Absolutely, Sweetheart. What's going on?”

Max turns without another word, still sniffling, and heads to the van. 

"Um," Eddie looks back at Steve with a shrug.

"Go," Steve shoo's him out of the door.

She’s already holding out motorhead by the time Eddie gets in.

“Destination?”

Max shakes her head.

Eddie puts the tape in and backs out of the drive, heading towards the back roads of Hawkins.

“Dad, why do boys suck?”

“We’re just fuckin’ stupid, snaps. I'm sorry, kiddo."

Eddie pulls into the gas station for their first stop, “Snacks?”

Max numbly nods, climbing out and trailing after Eddie inside, heading straight for the Icee machine and grabbing a candy bar on her way by.

—

Hopper’s eyes bulge as Mike rides up - El on the back of his bike holding onto the giant bear for dear life.

“Do I want to know?”

“We won him!” El happily states, while Mike quickly shakes his head behind her, willing Hopper not to ask .

Hopper slowly nods, making eye contact with Mike as if to let him know he knew .
“Good job, honey. You two have fun?”

El quickly nods, “Mmhm!”

“Yes Sir,” Mike says.

Hopper grimaces slightly at that.
“Good, good. I need another beer.”

He heads in the house, pointedly ignoring Mike shifting closer to El as he closes the door.

“Proud of you, Hop,” Joyce calls from the couch.

“They better make their goodbyes quick, I’m going back out there.”

Joyce giggles, shaking her head.

—

Max isn’t crying anymore when they make it back, oversized slushy nearly gone, but goes straight to her room as soon as she walks in. 

“She tell you anything?”

Eddie shakes his head, “Didn’t even ask, Stevie, she barely stopped crying an hour ago.”

Steve sighs, stubbing a hand over his face. 

“I think we should let her stay home tomorrow.”

Steve nods, “yeah, yeah. I’ll call Mike and have him pick up her homework.” 

Steve heads over to dial the Wheeler’s, hoping Ted isn’t already in a pissy mood, overly sure that Max has her radio on and would hear them if they were to radio him. 

“Wheeler’s,” Mike answers, sounding annoyed as usual.

“Hey, Wheels. It’s Steve.”

“Steve? Is Max there? She didn’t radio when she got home, is everything ok-”

“Far from, uh, she’s gonna stay home tomorrow. Can you -?”

“I’ll be over there in a second,” Mike announces, hanging up before Steve can say anything.

He puts the receiver back on the cradle, turning to eddie.
“He’ll be here in a second, I guess.”

“Yeah, totally can’t stand each other.”

“Not a bit,” Steve says with a nod before heading to the living room.

Less than five minutes later, Mike’s bike gets dropped on the porch and he walks inside. “Max in her room?”

Both nod, Steve pointing upstairs to the sound of Metallica. 

Mike makes his way upstairs, pushing the door open.
“Okay, what the hell?”

“Jocks fucking suck,” Max whispers, wiping tears off her cheeks.

“You pick the movies, I’ll make the popcorn.”

“You don’t have to.”

Mike pauses in the doorway to turn and look at Max.
“Uh, first off, El would have my ass if she knew I let you wallow without company.”
He turns to head downstairs to make popcorn, “So get your ass up.”

Max weakly laughs, forcing herself off the bed and downstairs to pick out movies.

Steve and Eddie relocate to the patio with cans of beer in hand, set on letting the teens have the living room. 

Eddie makes himself comfortable in a lounge chair as Steve tries to see into the Kitchen where Mike is hunting for snacks to go with popcorn.

“Leave them alone, babe.”

“I’m making sure he doesn’t find the cookies I hid.”

“You’re hiding cookies?”

“We live with teenagers, Eds, I have to or I don’t get any.”

Eddie laughs as he leans up to pull Steve crashing into the lounge chair with him.
“Worry about it later, I’m sure Erica will find them if he doesn’t.”

Steve scowls, cuddling into Eddie’s side, “Fine.”

Eddie digs out his pack of cigarettes, offering one to Steve.
“Bets on what time those two are gonna crash?”

“What time’s the sun come up?” Steve asks, taking a cigarette and the lighter from Eddie.

Chapter Text

Eddie peaks into the living room, snickering at Mike and Max sprawled out on separate ends of one couch before heading into the Kitchen with Steve. 

“Call the school yet?”

Steve nods as he sips his coffee, “Her leg is acting up.”

“Shame,” Eddie says, pouring his own cup of coffee.

“I don’t work today, I’ll just come back home after I kick kids out at school.”

“I’ve got it,” Eddie shrugs, “Mike’s here, Beth’s around the corner. If I leave right at fifteen after I can swing by for the other three no problem.”

“I’ll stay here with her then,” Steve states as Max stumbles into the kitchen.

“Mornin’ sunshine.”

“We’re gonna let you take the day off, have a little three day weekend.”

Max nods. She turns and heads upstairs coffeeless, going back to bed they both assume.

Eddie heads into the living room, waking Mike up as gently as he can, still getting glared at.
“Bud, what time did you two crash?”

Mike shrugs, yawning, “Three, maybe? I'm not really sure.”

“Come on, Let’s get you some coffee before we do anything.”

Glaring at anything and everything, Mike heads into the kitchen to eat.

“Do I have to be nice to him today?” Mike asks between bites of cereal.

“Max would probably skin you alive if you aren’t,” Steve states, getting up to pour himself another cup of coffee.

Mike grumbles, shoving the remaining cereal in his mouth before getting up to go raid the spare bedroom the kids had managed to leave most of their stuff in for something to wear to school.

“Lucas is going to be the most hated person in the van this morning.”

“Oh, I’m sure the hostility will outweigh the first time I rode with you, Gare, and Jeff.”

Eddie sighs, downing his coffee in one gulp.
“I’m not mentally prepared for this.” 

"Better you than me," Steve mumbles, holding out his hand for Eddie's cup to pour him more. 

Max makes her way back down after she hears the van leave, taking up a couch as she listens to her walkman.
Apparently her trip upstairs was to retrieve music and a hoodie that Steve suspiciously suspects is Lucas’.

Steve finishes the dishes before he wanders in the living room, sitting by Max.

“Mom,” Max asks, pulling off her head phones, “Would you be mad if you walked in somewhere and some random dude had dad’s battle vest on?” 

Steve’s eyes widen as he slowly nods.
“Very. Is that kind of what you’re so upset about?”

Max nods, sniffling as she wipes tears away. “Yeah. It’s stupid.”

“Not stupid, honey,” Steve gives her a slightly awkward one armed hug, “Lucas is an idiot.”

Steve contemplates calling Nancy or Robin again, before looking over at Max once more. He can barely hear what he thinks might be motorhead playing from her headphones she’s pulled back in place. He decides to call later, if he needs it, and gets up and crosses the room, digging through the communal tape collection to pull out Ozzy and Poison to hold up.
“Which one am I putting on?”

“You hate rock music,” Max says, pulling the headphones back off to look at him like he’d lost his mind.

Steve double checks the tapes before holding them back up.
“Well, I’ve come to like Ozzy and Bret Michaels is hot.”

Max bursts out laughing, pointing at Poison.
"Poison, please."

“Eddie never knows I said that,” Steve says as he puts the tape in.

“ Never ,” Max agrees, still laughing.
“But he is kind of hot.”

“It’s the hair, isn’t it?” Steve asks, putting Look what the cat dragged in in the tape player and hitting play, cry tough coming through the speakers.  

“Gotta be it,” Max agrees, leaning against Steve once he sits back down.

He lets the tape play through play dirty before he talks again.
“So, who’d he let wear the letterman?”

“Some stupid cheerleader,” Max sniffles, “It’s stupid.”

“Doesn’t sound stupid,” Steve states, “You talk to him about it?”

Max shakes her head, “He missed hellfire and when I came home they were in the park playing basketball.”

“The asshole.”

Max slightly smiles, nodding. “Yeah, the asshole.”

“He still coming to the show?”

Max shrugs, “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“If he doesn’t, let El kick his ass.”

Max giggles, wiping unshed tears out of her eyes.

~

Beth stumbles to a stop as she rounds the corner to the Kitchen, blinking at Kate like she might disappear. “Why are you up?”

Kate shrugs, “I just got home, Eddie picking you up?”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had the hots for Eddie,” Beth replies, grinning at the gag she gets from Kate.

“Oh, that’s gross, Bethany!” She scolds, “I was just wondering how you’re getting to school.”

“Eddie’s driving us,” Beth confirms, trailing further into the kitchen to get her breakfast. “Hey, Katie.”

“What’s up kiddo?”

“Can Max come over tonight? Like, hang out and shit talk how stupid boys are?”

Kate’s eyebrows shoot up, all the tiredness disappearing off her face. “Excuse me?”

“Lucas, he missed another date.”

Kate's face drops, “Oh, no. Um, I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Oh!” Beth says, twirling around to face Kate, “Eddie and Steve? Totally not roommates.”

“Did Max tell you that?”

Beth shakes her head, “Eddie almost kissed Steve the other day.”

Kate snorts out a laugh, “Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty solid evidence in the ‘totally not roommates’ argument.”

Beth rocks back on her heels, glancing around the living room.

“Katie? I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t trust her.”

Kate finally sighs, “You know what? Sure. If her dads are cool with it, I have no issues. You can even invite the other one, um, Jane?”

“Thank you!”
Beth smiles, rushing out of the room to grab her backpack as Eddie pulls into the drive and honks. Kate heads outside to see them off, sighing as Beth’s face drops when Max isn’t in the Van.

“Where is she?”

Mike scowls at Beth as he spits out ‘Lucas’.

“Her leg is hurting, so she stayed home,” Eddie says, sighing as he pulls away from the curb. 

“I’m gonna team up with Dustin, and kick his ass.”

“Please do not kick anyone's ass today,” Eddie says, “That goes for everyone.”

“I make no promises,” Both kids state.

“Of course you don’t.”

At the next stop, Dustin climbs in and scans the van for Max.
“She ride with Steve?”

“Nope, she is staying home.”

Dustin makes a face, but settles into his seat. 

“You're picking him up?” Beth asks as Eddie turns the corner.

“Please don’t fight in the van.”

“No promises,” All three kids state, again.

“Today is going to be fun,” Eddie mumbles, pulling up to the Sinclair’s. Erica rushing out first, looking particularly pissed off this morning. 

—

Eddie gets home after drop off to find Steve and Max blasting music in the living room, lounging on the couch and Max eating ice cream.

“Love the nutritious breakfast,” Eddie comments, turning the volume down a notch, “Is this Dokken?”

Both nod.
“Gare left it here so now it’s mine.”

“I don’t think that's how tape ownership works, Gingersnap," Eddie says, trying to keep from laughing as Max shrugs, eating another spoonful of ice cream.
“So, you ate something else besides that, right?”

“Nope,” Steve and Max both answer.

“When I go in the kitchen I’m gonna find another bowl, aren’t I?”

“I was being supportive.”

“Right,” Eddie chuckles as he makes his way over to the couch to crash by Max, “El told me she’ll do the dirty work and Beth offered to dig the hole.”

“No,” Max shakes her head with a sigh.
“I want to do the dirty work.”

“Hey,” Steve starts, “Let the supergirl do the dirty work, no evidence.”

“He has a point.”

Max giggles, finishing off her last few bites of ice cream before getting up and heading to the kitchen.

--

Lucas doesn’t bother stopping at the jocks today during lunch, heading straight for the party.
Everyone glares at him when he sits down, and Beth opens her book.

“What?”

Mike turns his attention to Beth’s book, “What’re you reading?”

“You fucking skipped yesterday,” Gareth states, “What the fuck, man?”

“Skipped?”

“Uh, fucking hellfire,” Dustin helpfully adds.

“Hellfire? That’s -” Lucas groans, “Today’s friday.”

“Jock brain that bad?” Will asks, “I mean, I know it eats brain cells but Steve was never this bad.”

“Where’s Max?”

The whole table shrugs, mumbling out ‘iono’.

“Seriously, where is she? When I asked in the van this morning Beth elbowed me in the ribs.”

Mike looks up from Beth’s book, “She skated home last night and fucked up her leg, so she stayed home.”

“Shit, we were supposed to…”

“Steve even has traumatic brain damage and isn’t this bad,” Will states, getting an exhausted look from Lucas which he ignores, and an over exaggerated nod of agreement from Dustin. 

~

Eddie swings the door open, fully expecting Hopper to be on the other side with a noise complaint while Steve turns Dio down. 

“Kate?”

“Hey.”

Eddie steps aside, letting her walk in.
“We weren’t being that loud were we?”

“No,” Kate laughs, “Um, I just came over here to see if Max wanted to come over tonight?”

When she gets a blank stare back from Eddie she continues.

“Beth wants to have a sleepover, I guess me working third shift every weekend is getting to her. I already talked to Joyce, Jane’s coming over too.”

“Oh, um, yeah hang on,” Eddie mutters, heading into the living room.

“Red, do you -”

“Yes!”

Eddie nods, turning back to Kate.
“She’ll be there.” 

--

Trevor runs up to Lucas, nearly smacking into him as they leave the gym from PE.
“Dude.”

“What?”